ChesPenn Health Services leaving Coatesville after 17 years serving vulnerable patients

A Coatesville community health-care provider that served vulnerable Chester County residents for nearly two decades is transitioning out of the region.

ChesPenn Health Services, a federally qualified health center that offers primary care, dental care, and behavioral services to low-income residents, those without insurance, and undocumented people, will shutter its Coatesville center’s doors in June after 17 years in operation.

In the semirural city with a population of about 13,000, ChesPenn was the only health-care facility of its kind, according to ChesPenn president and CEO Susan Harris-McGovern.

Federally qualified health centers receive funding from Medicare and Medicaid as well as outside grants, and aim to break down barriers to care, offering services on a sliding scale based on a patient’s ability to pay and allowing those in need the chance to bypass more costly emergency-room visits, according to Harris-McGovern.

With the nearest major hospital 15 miles away in West Chester, the facility offered critical care to more than 4,000 people each year, and was a particular boon to those who lacked transportation to visit other facilities, Harris-McGovern said.

Union Community Care, another federally qualified health center, is slated to take ChesPenn’s place at the Brandywine Center health-care hub this summer.

The transition thrust uncertainty onto ChesPenn’s 20-member staff, according to Harris-McGovern. Many have forged yearslong relationships with patients, she said, and were eager to retain their jobs under Union Community Services.

“It was a hard conversation to have with staff,” Harris-McGovern said of the closure announcement, though she added that, in her understanding, the incoming organization will retain staff members who wish to stay.

ChesPenn’s closure in Coatesville came down to grant funding, previously a pillar of the organization’s success.

After opening in the city in 2005, ChesPenn moved to the Brandywine Center in 2008, according to its website. It entered a 15-year funding agreement with the Chester County-based philanthropic Alliance for Health Equity, which Harris-McGovern said afforded the organization time to develop and train its employees.

But when negotiating a new deal, the Alliance offered ChesPenn shorter funding terms lasting either one or three years, according to Harris-McGovern — periods of time she believes would not have been conducive to managing a staff, and contributing to ChesPenn’s decision to close its center in Coatesville. The group also has locations in Chester and Upper Darby.

“You can’t retain staff for one year,” Harris-McGovern said. “It’s not a good business model.”

Harris-McGovern added that she believes AHE was “not in a position to offer long-term grants anymore.”

The Alliance for Health Equity did not return multiple requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Harris-McGovern said the incoming primary-care provider, Union Community Care, will offer vulnerable Coatesville patients the same level and quality of care they had become used to.

“We are thrilled to join the Coatesville community as its partner in health,” said Alisa Maria Jones, president and CEO of Union Community Care, in a statement. “Our first steps will be listening to and learning from the community so that every person feels seen, valued, and supported.”

The organization was founded in 2021 through a merger between Lancaster Health Center and Welsh Mountain Hill Centers. It offers medical care, dental care, behavioral health services, and social support, according to its website.

“I look for the silver lining,” Harris-McGovern said, “and the silver lining is the continuity of care won’t stop once ChesPenn is no longer there.”