Three Philadelphia-area hospitals are for sale

Three Philadelphia-area hospitals are for sale, according to an emailed notice Monday from a Los Angeles investment bank.

The notice, obtained by The Inquirer, did not identify the owner or the hospitals, but the description — acute-care hospitals with one owner and an average of 136 beds — fits the three Philadelphia-area hospitals owned by Prime Healthcare Services Inc., which is based in Ontario, Calif.

Prime’s Philadelphia-area hospitals are Lower Bucks, Roxborough Memorial, and Suburban Community.

Prime, a for-profit with 44 hospitals in 14 states, declined to confirm it has put the hospitals on the market. “We don’t comment on strategic merger and acquisition initiatives,” Prime spokesperson, Elizabeth Nikels, said in an email.

The notice from Xnergy, the investment bank, said all three hospitals are losing money and said the seller “believes conversion to behavioral health is a viable alternative.” The seller’s hope is to find one buyer for all three hospitals, the notice said.

Prime acquired Roxborough and Lower Bucks in 2012. Prime’s nonprofit affiliate Prime Healthcare Foundation Inc, acquired the former Mercy Suburban Hospital in 2016.

The three hospitals have had substantial operating losses in each of the last five years, according to American Hospital Directory, which compiles Medicare cost reports. Combined inpatient volume at the three hospitals fell to 2,250 discharges last year from 3,975 in 2018, a 43% drop, according to the directory.

Nurses at Suburban and Lower Bucks are negotiating a new contract and have put the hospitals on notice that they may go on strike for five days starting Friday, according to their union, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. The nurses are seeking better staffing levels, wages, and benefits.