Overcrowding at emergency rooms and long waits to see doctors continue to plague Delaware County following the closure of the Crozer Health system.
State legislators and Main Line Health executives met last week, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.
Chronic patients no longer have easy follow-up visits or easy medication refills, said Phil Hatfield, vice president of Patient Services at Main Line Health.
“So people who may have been able to be handled in a (Crozer) physician’s office now are being admitted here because we have to get them through that crisis,” Hatfield said.
A key issue is a lack of medical office space to accommodate additional doctors.
The former Crozer hospitals are unattractive because of the investment needed to upgrade and repair the buildings, explained Main Line CEO Ed Jimenez.
Main Line Health is talking with the new owners of Taylor Hospital and Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
“What’s encouraging is that there is a commitment to figure stuff out,” said Jimenez, also noting that none of the owners have ever run hospitals.
Jimenez said Main Line Health wants to stay in the conversation because “our successors in 40 years should not have to face this again.”
Read some of the insights on Delaware County’s healthcare situation in the Daily Times.
