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Recent reprieves and last-minute cash influxes have seemingly not been enough to save Crozer Health as Prospect Medical Holdings -- the company that owns Delaware County's largest health network -- has definitively said the health system will close.
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WATCH HEREIn a letter sent to employees on Monday, Prospect Medical Holdings announced that Crozer Health was ceasing operations and they would be laying off about 2,651 workers.
The company later released an official statement Monday afternoon:
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SIGN UP “Today, Prospect Medical Holdings made the extremely difficult decision to begin winding down operations across our Crozer Health facilities. The ambulatory surgery and imaging centers at Brinton Lake, Broomall, Haverford, and Media will remain open.
"PMH recognizes the impact this action will have on patients as well as team members. We’ve worked tirelessly with the Pennsylvania Attorney General and other parties to do everything possible to prevent this outcome. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach a viable alternative. At this time, the focus at Crozer Health remains on seamlessly transitioning patients to other health facilities so that they can continue to receive the critical, uninterrupted care they require, and to support Crozer Health team members as they seek to identify other employment opportunities.”
Later on Monday in a statement, the receivership said it had ended as of Friday, April 18, 2025:
"Today, Prospect Medical Holdings will file closure notices and begin the process of winding down Crozer Health and all of its operations. As Court appointed receiver, we are disappointed an alternative resolution and sale could not be reached. Any questions regarding the closure—including the transitioning of patients and future of Crozer Health’s affected employees—should be directed to Prospect Medical Holdings.
"We are thankful to all those who came forward and offered potential solutions to sustain operations, as well as the patients who put their trust in Crozer Health and the dedicated employees who have continued to show up at work leading up to and throughout this process to provide the care and comfort patients need.”
Monday's announcement means that the fight to keep two Crozer Health System facilities -- the Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Chester and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park -- from closing is now over and they will likely be shuttered and sold.
According to the letter, Prospect Medical Holdings had been working with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office to find new owners for Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital, but the company learned on Friday that no prospective buyer would move forward with a purchase.
The company also noted that on April 17, 2025, they learned that an offer from the University of Pennsylvania Health System, that would have provided $5 million in funding to allow for a further extension of time for Prospect to find a purchaser for these hospitals, would not come through.
"As a result of the unforeseen circumstances described above, Prospect is forced to close operations and permanently lay off the Pennsylvania employees listed below," the company wrote in their letter.
The letter said that 2,651 workers from across eight facilities would be laid off:
- 1,908 employees at the Crozer-Chester Medical Center, located at 1 Medical Center Drive in Upland
- 45 employees at the Crozer-Chester Medical Center Behavioral Health Unit, located at 1 Medical Center Drive in Upland
- 88 employees at the Crozer Health Corporate Offices, located at 1 Medical Center Drive in Upland
- 126 employees at the Crozer-Springfield Hospital, located at 190 W. Sproul Road in Springfield
- 53 employees at the Crozer Springfield Hospital Offices, located at 190 W. Sproul Road in Springfield
- 351 employees at the Crozer-Taylor Hospital, located at 175 E. Chester Pike in Ridley Park
- 34 employees at the Crozer-West 15th Street Offices, located at 301 W. 15th Street in Chester
- 46 employees at the Crozer-West 15th Street Offices BHU, located at 301 W. 15th Street in Chester
The letter said that these layoffs would be permanent and are expected to happen between April 25 and May 2, 2025.
The letter did not note when closure procedures for the hospitals would begin.
Tuesday evening, a bankruptcy judge said they had exhausted all options to keep the hospitals open. The judge also asked lawyers to submit their final paperwork for the bankruptcy by Wednesday morning.
Reaction pours in as Crozer closure looms
Upon learning of the decision to cease operations, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said that the move comes as a "result of [Prospect Medical Holding's] greed and mismanagement."
“Prospect Medical Holdings, the for-profit owner of Crozer Health, pillaged these hospitals for their own gain – and today, we see the result of their greed and mismanagement with the announced closure and loss of critical health care services for the people of Delaware County," said Shapiro in a statement. "My Administration has worked tirelessly for more than two years alongside the Office of Attorney General, state legislators, and local government – committing millions of dollars to support Crozer and its workers while ensuring not one penny of taxpayer money be used to enrich Prospect. Now, we will keep working closely with our local partners to support the workers who have served so many families and patients and continue fighting for the patients who have been harmed by Prospect's greed. Prospect caused this crisis, and they must be held accountable for their reckless actions that have led to today’s announcement. Their conduct and mismanagement must be fully reviewed in the bankruptcy legal process to hold them to account under the law, and we must ensure this never happens again by passing legislation to get private equity out of the health care business in Pennsylvania, as I proposed in my budget address earlier this year.”
The mayor of Upper Darby Township, Ed Brown, announced that the town is working on figuring out a different emergency services "model" to make sure residents have access to care.
The township is planning to "share in the cost" of its new EMS model, officials said.
“We believe the long-term solution for sustainable, high-quality EMS service lies in a regional approach among neighboring Delaware County communities,” Mayor Ed Brown said. “I have directed our Chief Administrative Officer and team to actively pursue this collaborative strategy, though we recognize it will take time to develop.”
Crozer workers decry 'betrayal'
On Tuesday, hospital workers and members of the Crozer Chester Nurses Association, a union that represents many who work for the healthcare provider, gathered outside Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Chester to discuss the impending closures and looming layoffs.
“These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet,” longtime Crozer Behavioral Health nurse and Crozer Chester Nurses Association President Peggy Malone, RN, said. “They’re people’s lives. We’re talking about the lives of thousands of patients, who will be stranded without accessible healthcare in a matter of weeks – that’s recklessly fast. And we’re talking about the lives of 3,000 employees, who won’t be able to find jobs in reasonable proximity.”
In discussing the situation on Tuesday, Malone referred to Prospect Medical Holdings as a "monster company," saying it "came to take every penny from our system, from us, from this community."
"They embezzled it all, they stole it all and now they are going to go," she said. "And, they leave us with all of this destruction behind us."
William McCall, a paramedic at Crozer, said that he's been there for decades and he was frustrated that the health system was being shut down.
"Everything that requires time and definitive care are being taken away from these people," he said. "People are going to die on the way to the hospital."
His daughter, Rachel McCullough, said she's been working in EMS since she was 16 years old and was born at Crozer.
The loss of the health system, she said, was a loss of a lifestyle for her entire family.
"Everybody that lives inside my house is supported a Crozer," she said, calling the closure a betrayal. "It would be the ultimate betrayal to this region, this area, the people behind me and to me and my family."
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