Delaware
Crozer Health in Delaware County to close, leaving patients and employees in limbo
FTI Consulting, which was tasked with shepherding the distressed health system’s finances, issued a statement thanking employees, patients and parties who offered solutions.
“As Court-appointed receiver, we are disappointed an alternative resolution and sale could not be reached,” the receivership said.
Crozer began transitioning operations in an attempt to sustain itself in recent weeks in accordance with FTI’s service line transition plan. Main Line Health raised its hand to absorb Crozer’s OB-GYN services. Taylor moved to axe home care and hospice units as early as June.
“The ‘FTI plan’ was one of recovery and exploration of a possible sale, not closure,” the receivership said.
A bankruptcy hearing related to the closure notices is set for Tuesday afternoon.
‘Disappointed’ Pa. officials seek ‘to hold Prospect accountable’
Representatives from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General were heavily involved in sale negotiations. In a statement, spokesperson Brett Hambright said the office was “deeply disappointed” by the closure news.
In the end, office leaders said the “damage inflicted” by Prospect’s former owner, private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, “who prioritized their own wealth over the well-being of a community, was too much to overcome.”
The attorney general’s office pledged to continue working through the bankruptcy process to recoup money owed to the Commonwealth “to the greatest extent possible in order to hold Prospect accountable for actions that caused this closure.“
Gov. Josh Shapiro accused Prospect of pillaging the hospitals “for their own personal gain” and committed to working alongside the attorney general in the bankruptcy case.
“And we must ensure this never happens again by passing legislation to get private equity out of the health care business in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said in a statement.
Crozer is integral to shaping the county’s history and economy. The Delaware County Legislative Delegation said in a statement that they’re “furious.”
“Delaware County legislators, Governor Shapiro’s office, and The Office of the Attorney General have been working night and day for months to stop the hemorrhaging Prospect’s dealings created while finding bridge funding to keep Crozer open under new ownership,” the lawmakers said.
Pennsylvania and Delaware County put up a combined $20 million in taxpayer money in February to give the receiver enough cash to keep Crozer running for at least 30 days.
Prospect first signaled the possible closure of the hospitals when money for payroll ran dry in March. A $7 million cash infusion from the Foundation for Delaware County avoided closure at the time. A civil lawsuit nearly blocked the flow of more cash, but the community nonprofit eventually OK’d another $13 million for hospital payroll and overhead.
Bankruptcy attorneys for Prospect asked for more help for Crozer in April before U.S. bankruptcy Judge Stacey G. C. Jernigan of the Northern District of Texas, requesting another $9 million to prolong negotiations. Penn Medicine and Delaware County answered the call, although they came up $3 million short of Prospect’s request.
Negotiations between Prospect and the unnamed consortium of buyers have been underway ever since. Crozer CEO Tony Esposito stepped down Friday. Greg Williams, president of Prospect’s East Coast operations, assumed Esposito’s role in the interim.
“At a time when the federal government is planning massive cuts to Medicaid and Medicare and when most hospital systems are already in the red due to below-cost reimbursement from those public-payor programs, bailing out Crozer became a problem without a solution,” the delegation said.
Foundation for Delaware County President Frances Sheehan said in a statement that the closure of two more hospitals “will significantly reduce emergency healthcare options.”
“Our maternal health team has been working closely with County Council President Dr. Monica Taylor and healthcare leaders for months,” Sheehan said. “We are grateful to Riddle Hospital, Nemours, and CHOP for planning for a significant increase in births and pediatric care, and to all our region’s health systems for partnering with the Delaware County Health Department to coordinate and implement an emergency plan that our citizens will need now that Crozer Health is closing.”
Editor’s note: The Foundation for Delaware County is a WHYY supporter. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.
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Thomas Jefferson University is opening a regional campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Delaware, an effort that will result in the state’s first medical school.
Jefferson beat out three other bidders to establish the four-year program in partnership with the state. The other bidders were the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico, Spotlight Delaware reported.
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The inaugural class of 40 medical students will begin instruction in July 2028. Initially, the campus will be based at the University of Delaware in Newark, with Jefferson faculty providing instruction. A permanent home for the campus is still being finalized, the Inquirer reported.
The medical students will receive 18 months of preclinical training on campus before receiving clinical training from healthcare providers in Delaware’s southern counties, where the state’s physician shortage is most deeply felt. That shortage is compounded by an aging population, Delaware officials said.
“Jefferson is committed to being part of the solution to Delaware’s physician shortage,” Jefferson CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione said in a statement. “We are proud to help build a future where every Delawarean has access to the care they deserve. Jefferson is all in.”
The school’s creation is being supported by $157.4 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Delaware is one of three states without a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program. Since the late 1960s, Jefferson and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine have reserved seats for Delaware students.
“Sidney Kimmel Medical College has trained generations of physicians for more than 200 years, more than any other medical college in the country,” Said Ibrahim, dean of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, said in a statement. “It is a privilege to bring our mission to Delaware’s patients and communities.”
Jefferson has announced several expansions recently. The university is establishing a full-time doctor of nursing practice-nurse anesthesia program and several online graduate programs at the Lehigh Valley Health Network Center for Healthcare Education in Lehigh County. It also is opening a satellite respiratory therapy lab at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown.
Delaware officials said medical students will start their classroom instruction at UD and then do their clinical training at offices and health care systems in Kent and Sussex counties, where the shortage of doctors is most acute.
However, ChristianaCare, which has its own partnership with Jefferson, is not participating. The state’s largest health care system was part of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s unsuccessful bid to operate the school. In a joint statement from ChristianaCare and PCOM, the two organizations expressed disappointment with not being part of the consortium of higher education institutions and healthcare organizations.
“The path forward raises genuine questions about whether the school’s goals can be fully realized without ChristianaCare’s meaningful participation in its clinical training mission,” it said. “The success of any four-year medical program depends not just on an academic institution, but on a true and committed partnership with its clinical partners — one built on shared mission, mutual investment and trust developed over time.”
Students in the first class can get their tuition subsidized, covering all of their education costs, in exchange for an agreement to work in rural Delaware for five years.
Running the medical school is expected to cost Jefferson $78 million over the next five years. The money is from a federal rural health grant through the Rural Health Transformation Program, which congressional Republicans created in the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.”
The program will give $50 billion to every state over five years, though exactly the total each will eventually receive is unclear. Half of the money is to be distributed equally to states and the other half is awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services based on a variety of factors.
The state applied for $1 billion late last year to improve health care in Kent and Sussex counties. The Trump administration has so far allocated Delaware $157 million. Delaware is expected to receive at least $500 million over the life of the fund.
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