Einstein Medical Center shuts down pediatric residency program

Einstein Medical Center’s pediatric residency program is shutting down, the hospital informed residents this week. Current residents will be able to complete their three-year training, but the hospital won’t matriculate a new class this year.

A spokesperson for Jefferson Health, which owns Einstein, attributed the closure to “changing medical needs of our community,” but did not elaborate.

“We consistently examine all opportunities to continually improve health care delivery in the communities we serve,” Damien Woods, a Jefferson spokesperson, said in a statement.

» READ MORE: Crozer Health’s residency program in general surgery lost its accreditation, will close Friday

Einstein’s pediatric residents train in the hospital’s newborn and neonatal intensive-care units, as well as the outpatient children’s clinics associated with the hospital. The residents also rotate at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, which is part of Tower Health.

Jefferson acquired Einstein Healthcare Network, including Einstein Medical Center on North Broad Street, in 2021. Einstein had an operating loss of $17 million on revenue of $1.6 billion in the year ended June 30, according to a Jefferson-audited financial report.

Residency slots are often funded by Medicare and are extremely coveted by hospitals because their overall number is capped by Congress. But hospitals can also pay for their own residents, and do about 20% of the time.

The pediatric residency slots at Einstein are paid for by Jefferson, not Medicare, Woods said.

Einstein’s pediatric residency program matched applicants for all 10 residency slots in each of the last five years, according to data from the National Residency Match Program. In recent years, the program attracted a diverse pool of graduates of medical schools from outside of the United States, including from Pakistan, the Caribbean, and Israel.

» READ MORE: 1 in 4 emergency medicine residency spots at Jefferson Health, Einstein unfilled ahead of Match Day, following ‘unprecedented’ national trend

The residency program’s alumni went on to fellowship programs at premier hospitals such as Boston’s Children Hospital and Johns Hopkins, according to the program’s website. Others began their careers as attending physicians at hospitals such as Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia or private practice.

Attempts by The Inquirer to contact the current Einstein residents were not successful.

Earlier this week, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education withdrew the accreditation of the general surgery residency program at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Delaware County “under special circumstances.“ Crozer-Chester’s program will shut down Friday and residents will need to complete their training elsewhere.