Pictures of Health
Hahnemann University Hospital, which discharged its last inpatient in late July but is still the subject of an intense legal fight in bankruptcy court, is the 10th Philadelphia hospital to close in the last 20 years.
Each closure is an economic blow, typically costing hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs. Hahnemann, for instance employed 2,500 people in Center City. Closures, like that of Hahnemann, typically uproot patients and families, who sometimes rely on the same community hospital for generations, from familiar ground.
Despite a 33% reduction in the number of licensed acute-care hospital beds since the late 1990s, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data, the city has always adjusted — in large part because health care is inexorably moving toward a world in which more care is provided outside of the hospital.
Elective surgeries, such as joint replacements, that 20 years ago required a multi-day hospital stay can now be done on an outpatient basis for some patients. In 1970, mothers spent an average of four days in the hospital for a vaginal delivery, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, it’s not unusual for them to go home 24 hours after giving birth. That trend means fewer hospital beds are needed.
What’s happened to the hospital buildings? Some, like Mount Sinai in South Philadelphia, have been demolished, others reused as specialized health-care facilities, such as Girard Medical Center, which closed as an acute hospital, but is now used for behavioral health. And, yes, some have been turned into condos or apartments.
As for the 496-bed Hahnemann hospital, some cling to hope that it could reopen, but turning it into a long-term success will be a hard road because many staffers and all the patients have already dispersed to other hospitals. And, given that the hospital had operating losses for the past 15 years, any attempt at finding a path to financial sustainability is bound to be fraught with challenges.
Below is a gallery of historical photos of closed Philadelphia hospitals, dating back to the closure of Philadelphia General in 1977. The closure list is restricted to general acute-care hospitals.
St. Agnes Hospital
South Philadelphia
Year closed: 2004
Current use: Multipurpose health campus
Philadelphia General Hospital
University City
Year closed: 1977
Current use: Site of new buildings for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Health System
Girard Medical Center
North Philadelphia
Year closed: 1992
Current use: Behavioral health facility for North Philadelphia Health System
Metropolitan Hospital
Center City
Year closed: 1993
Current use: Condominiums
Mount Sinai Hospital
Southwark
Year closed: 1997
Current use: Building demolished in 2016; now the site of a townhouse development
Germantown Hospital
East Germantown
Year closed: 1999
Current use: Nursing home and other medical offices
St. Mary’s Hospital / Neumann Medical Center
Fishtown
Year closed: 1999
Current use: Senior housing
Parkview Hospital
Crescentville
Year closed: 2003
Current use: Site of Cancer Treatment Centers of America
Graduate Hospital
Southwest Center City
Year closed: 2007
Current use: Penn Medicine Rittenhouse
Northeastern Hospital
Port Richmond
Year closed: 2009
Current use: Temple Health Northeastern Campus
St. Joseph's Hospital
North Philadelphia
Year closed: 2016
Current use: Apartments
Hahnemann University Hospital
Center City
Year closed: 2019
