ChristianaCare is eyeing Aston Township for one of its Delaware County micro-hospitals

ChristianaCare, Delaware’s largest health system, is considering Aston Township as the location for one of the two micro-hospitals the nonprofit system plans to build in Delaware County, according to the township.

The location is near the intersection of North Turner Way and Dutton Mill Road, across from IceWorks, a skating facility, according to a notice on the Aston Township website, first reported by the Delaware County Daily Times.

In February, ChristianaCare announced the plan for the two micro-hospitals in Delaware County. It is also turning the former Jennersville Hospital in western Chester County into a micro-hospital. All three hospitals are part of a partnership between ChristianaCare and Emerus Holdings Inc., a Texas company that specializes in such facilities.

“ChristianaCare is actively exploring site locations for our two neighborhood hospitals in Delaware County, Pa. Aston Township is one of the sites under serious consideration,” ChristianaCare said in a statement Friday. It’s not clear where the second hospital might go.

Micro-hospitals, also called neighborhood hospitals, must have an emergency department that is always open, but typically only have 10 inpatient beds for short-term stays. They are gaining popularity as a way for health systems to expand their reach in areas that can’t support a full-scale hospital.

Discussions between the township and ChristianaCare are in the early stages, Township Manager Bill DeFeo said Monday. “They are just starting to get their information together to present to the township.”

A key step is a conditional-use hearing to determine if a micro-hospital meets all the zoning and criteria of the site. “If we get all the necessary approvals, it would definitely be a big addition to our township,” DeFeo said.

The hospital would serve not just Aston, which had a population of nearly 17,000 in 2020, but also Upper and Lower Chichester, and some of Boothwyn, DeFeo said.

A micro-hospital at the Aston location, about four miles west of Crozer-Chester Medical Center, could put additional financial pressure on the for-profit Crozer Health. Its owner, Prospect Medical Holdings Inc., is trying to sell the system to CHA Partners, a New Jersey company that would convert Crozer back into a nonprofit.

ChristianaCare previously tried to acquire Crozer Health, but abandoned the effort in 2022.