Temple Health System likely to extend exclusive negotiations with Jefferson to sell Fox Chase

Temple University Health System chief executive Larry Kaiser said Tuesday that its agreement to negotiate exclusively with Thomas Jefferson University on the possible sale of Fox Chase Cancer Center would likely be extended beyond the current June 30 expiration date.

“We are having very frequent discussions with them,” Kaiser told investors on a conference call to discuss the health system’s third-quarter financial results. The negotiations include the sale of Temple’s share of the insurer Health Partners Plans.

For Temple, a sale of the 100-bed Fox Chase system with 2,036 employees could help bolster its weak financial position and improve its ability to provide crucial health-care services in a high-poverty area of the city.

Temple Health System reported $5.6 million in net income on $1.4 billion in revenue in the nine months ended March 31.

The bottom line improvement from a $44.6 million loss in the comparable period a year again was attributed to the timing of the system’s special subsidy from Pennsylvania and favorable results from Health Partners, employee benefits, and insurance, officials said.

Total revenue in the comparable year-ago period was $1.3 billion.