What to Know
- About 40% of Drexel's physicians and clinical staff will be laid off as a result of Hahnemann University Hospital's impending closure.
- Drexel doctors staff many of Hahnemann's departments and wards.
- The move comes despite previous state and city efforts to keep the medical center open.
About 40% of Drexel University's physicians and clinical staff will be laid off as a result of Hahnemann University Hospital's impending closure.
Drexel University College of Medicine Dean Daniel Schidlow announced the cuts in an email to staff Thursday morning. Drexel doctors staff many of Hahnemann's departments and wards.
"Unfortunately, the abrupt closure of Hahnemann has brought the Drexel University Physicians (DUP) practice plan to a crisis point, which has caused extremely difficult decisions to be made," Schidlow said.
Tower Health, which operates six hospitals mainly in the Philadelphia suburbs, will be able to employ about 60% of the Drexel staff, Schidlow said.
"Specifically, Tower is interested in continuing the work of Drexel physicians and clinical staff in their current Drexel Medicine practice locations in family medicine, internal medicine (primary care medicine, HIV/infectious disease, cardiology, gastroenterology (proceduralists), endocrinology, rheumatology), psychiatry and neurology," Schidlow's email read.
The other 40% of physicians and clinical staff who are not offered positions "will be provided with severance and outplacement counseling services," according to the email.
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The move comes despite previous state and city efforts to keep the medical center open. Last week, presidential candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also weighed in, calling for Joel Freedman, the president and CEO of Philadelphia Academic Health System, which owns the hospital, to cease closure plans.
Employees at Hahnemann told NBC10 the hospital has become a "ghost town" as fewer patients have been admitted and wards closed.
On Wednesday, it stopped admitting patients from the emergency room into the hospital. Before that, it closed its maternity ward and began diverting trauma patients to other hospitals.
As it stands, Hahnemann is slated to close in September.
