Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, will close after months of uncertainty, according to Prospect Medical Holdings, the parent company of Crozer Health.
Thousands of employees who work for Crozer Health received emails Monday morning that the system will be shutting down despite efforts to find a buyer to assume ownership of Crozer Chester Medical Center, Taylor Hospital and other facilities.
In a statement, Prospect Medical Holdings announced that the company has made the “extremely difficult decision to begin winding down operations across our Crozer Health facilities.”
A spokesperson said the ambulatory surgery and imaging centers at Brinton Lake, Broomall, Haverford and Media will stay open.
“PMH recognizes the impact this action will have on patients as well as team members. We’ve worked tirelessly with the Pennsylvania Attorney General and other parties to do everything possible to prevent this outcome,” a Prospect Medical Holdings spokesperson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we were unable to reach a viable alternative. At this time, the focus at Crozer Health remains on seamlessly transitioning patients to other health facilities so that they can continue to receive the critical, uninterrupted care they require, and to support Crozer Health team members as they seek to identify other employment opportunities.”
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General said it’s “deeply disappointed” by Prospect’s decision.
“Along with the governor’s office and other state and local leaders, we worked tirelessly to avoid this outcome. Unfortunately, the damage inflicted by Leonard Green & Partners — the private equity owners of Prospect — who prioritized their own wealth over the wellbeing of a community, was too much to overcome,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
“The heroic Crozer staff, who continued to provide top-quality care and services throughout this process, deserved a better outcome. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of our office, that resolution proved out of reach,” the statement continued. “We will continue to work through the bankruptcy process to pursue the commonwealth’s financial claims to the greatest extent possible in order to hold Prospect accountable for actions that caused this closure.”
In a statement, state Sen. Tim Kearney said Prospect’s decision to close Crozer Health is a “devastating and disgraceful blow to our communities, our health care workers, and every patient who has ever relied on our local hospital system.”
“Prospect is willfully closing Crozer Health after state and local officials, regional health systems and philanthropic partners exhausted their ability and financial resources to salvage the hospital system,” Kearney said in a statement. “Yet again, Prospect decided to put profits over patients by putting Crozer’s assets up for auction.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
