Lawmakers warn of public health crisis in Delco following Crozer Health’s parent company filing for bankruptcy
Prospect’s hospitals — including Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park — are expected to keep operating during the bankruptcy proceedings.
Delaware County risks a public health crisis as its largest health-care system, Crozer Health, continues to decline under financial mismanagement, local politicians warned Monday.
Lawmakers and community stakeholders gathered outside the Delaware County Courthouse in Media to express their frustration and fear over a weekend move by Crozer’s for-profit owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, to file for bankruptcy.
“This is not just a financial matter. It’s also a public health crisis,” said state Sen. Tim Kearney, a Democrat. “Prospect Medical Holdings has systematically restricted resources from its facilities, prioritized profits over patient care, and left our communities to shoulder the fallout.”
The bankruptcy filing was long expected, and Prospect’s hospitals — including Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park — are expected to continue operating during the bankruptcy.
The public officials gathered Monday are not likely to have any influence over the course of the bankruptcy playing out in Texas.
In a news release issued Saturday, Prospect CEO Von Crockett said that filing for bankruptcy was “an important step forward in our long-standing commitment to best serve the interests of our patients, physicians, employees, and communities.”
Prospect’s move puts on hold a petition by Pennsylvania’s attorney general asking a Delaware County court to give the state control of the financially beleaguered health system. Government officials say the hospitals are part of a critical safety net for low-income communities in the area.
Crozer operates the only Level 1 trauma center in Delaware County, as well as a burn unit, and provides maternity services and behavioral health care.
If Crozer-Chester were to close, the next closest hospitals would be Riddle in Media and Mercy Fitzgerald in Darby, both nearly 10 miles away.
» READ MORE: What's happened at Crozer Health since Prospect acquired it in 2016
Stakeholders at the news conference said they fear that the bankruptcy filing will further deteriorate an already dire situation at Crozer.
The hospitals have experienced significant cutbacks in services and staff, increasingly rely on other health systems for support, and are routinely cited by the Pennsylvania Health Department for safety problems related to understaffing and broken equipment.
In November, for example, the health department cited Crozer for diverting serious heart attack patients because there were not enough cardiac nurses on duty. The emergency departments at Crozer and Taylor were shut down for several hours in early December because of an equipment failure.
Nurses say they take on extra patients when the hospital is short-staffed and struggle to find basic supplies.
“This bankruptcy places our community’s most vulnerable patients, families, and our frontline health-care workers in an increasingly precarious position,” said Monica Taylor, chair of the Delaware County Council.
State lawmakers who represent the area vowed to continue fighting to preserve Crozer.
“We’re not going to let it just go. We’re going to continuously fight,” said state Rep. Carol Kazeem, whose district includes the city of Chester. “Because here in Delaware County, we don’t take no nonsense.”
They also plan to revive and advocate for a proposed law that would ban for-profit companies, like Prospect, from owning or operating hospitals in Pennsylvania.
The legislation has stalled in previous legislative sessions. Taylor said she hoped the Prospect bankruptcy would be a “wake up call” for the General Assembly to take action.
“Health care is a public good, not a commodity to be traded for financial gain,” she said.
Inquirer staff writer Harold Brubaker contributed to this article.