Philadelphia

Hahnemann Announces Planned Transfer of Residency, Fellowship Programs

The majority of residency and fellowship programs at Hahnemann/Drexel University will be transferred to Tower Health, which operates six hospitals in the greater Philadelphia region

Fellows and doctors in residence training at Hahnemann University Hospital will now have the option to be placed at one of six other area hospitals as the Center City Philadelphia medical facility continues with its plan to close later this year.

The majority of residency and fellowship programs at Hahnemann/Drexel University will be transferred to Tower Health, which operates six hospitals in the greater Philadelphia region, Hahnemann, Drexel University College of Medicine and Tower Health announced in a joint news statement Wednesday morning.

Drexel doctors staff many of Hahnemann's departments and wards.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Tower Health which provides the best opportunity for the residents and fellows to continue training with the Drexel physicians while keeping the training cohort intact and enabling residents and fellows to remain in the Greater Philadelphia area," Hahnemann President Joel Freedman said in the statement.

Residents are medical school graduates working in a hospital, usually under an attending physician, as part of on-the-job training. Fellows are defined as medical school graduates who have completed their initial residency training and are pursuing additional training in a particular specialty.

Tower Health -- which operates hospitals in Brandywine, Chestnut Hill, Jennersville, Phoenixville, Pottstown and Reading -- plans to hire the faculty who are currently training the fellows and residents at Hahnemann's programs in an effort to "ensure continuity," the health care company said in its statement.

The fate of Hahnemann's residency program had been hanging in limbo since the medical center announced its plans to shutter in September of this year.

Dr. Shelley George, director of the anesthesiology residency program and an assistant professor at Drexel Medical School, previously said residents at Hahnemann are "going through sheer hell right now."

The hospital, while acknowledging that fellows and residents have the right to choose where they want to complete their training, said that it is ensuring every resident and fellow receives Medicare reimbursement funding. The Medicare reimbursements are part of a funding model in which the federal government reimburses hospitals to train and educate doctors.

"Hahnemann will begin releasing any program participants who wish to complete their training elsewhere, upon confirmation of the cap value for every participant in the training program," the hospital said.

NBC10's Brian McCrone contributed to this article.

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