St. Chris gets $30 million in support from coalition of Philadelphia health-care organizations

St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is getting an additional $30 million in support over two years from a coalition of Philadelphia health-care organizations that has given the North Philadelphia safety-net facility $50 million in recent years, the nonprofit hospital said Monday.

The money is coming from Jefferson Health, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Temple Health, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Independence Health Group, the parent company of Independence Blue Cross, contributed in the first round, but not in the second. The insurer helped marshal the support both times, St. Chris said. Jefferson, PCOM, and Temple rely on St. Chris as an educational partner.

One reason St. Chris struggles financially is because 85% of its patients are covered by Medicaid, a publicly funded program for low-income families that pays low rates compared to commercial insurance. Many of its patients have chronic conditions that hospitals do not make money treating, and may lack access to routine care and face socio-economic stressors that make it hard to stay healthy.

Some additional financial help is expected next year. The Philadelphia Hospital Assessment, which provides extra money to hospitals with high numbers of patients insured by Medicaid, has been expanded to include children’s hospitals. St. Chris has not disclosed how much of a subsidy it expects to get out of that program.

St. Chris is owned by a joint venture between Tower Health and Drexel University. The two nonprofit intuitions bought the hospital out of bankruptcy in 2019 for $58 million. The real estate was sold separately for $65 million. St. Chris occupies it under a long-term lease.

The hospital had $306.4 million in revenue in the year ended June 30, 2023, up from $281 million year before. Financial results for fiscal 2024 were not immediately available, but a spokesperson said the hospital was expecting revenue in the current fiscal year to reach more than $370 million.

Tower stopped breaking out St. Chris’ financial results, so it’s not clear whether St. Chris has ended a string of annual losses.

St. Chris secured a new three-year license from the Pennsylvania Department of Health in July after two failed inspections. The hospital had been operating under a temporary license for a year.

Earlier this year, Robert Brooks succeeded Don Mueller as CEO of St. Chris. Tower and Drexel had appointed Mueller CEO in 2020, but the executive did not move permanently to Philadelphia from Tennessee. The state blamed some safety lapses at the hospital on Mueller’s absence and ordered him to be in Philadelphia five days a week.

Brooks, who had been St. Chris’ chief operating officer, is a Philadelphia resident, according to Tower.