Crozer-Chester Medical Center may close on Friday with only 20 patients remaining.

A recent bankruptcy hearing revealed that Crozer-Chester Medical Center’s emergency department received a pregnant patient in active labor on Wednesday, just before the facility was set to close. This incident marked one of the last significant actions taken by the emergency staff at Crozer-Chester before the hospital’s impending shutdown. Following the delivery of the baby, both mother and child were promptly transferred to another healthcare facility.

The approval for Crozer-Chester’s closure comes after Prospect Medical Holdings, the hospital’s parent company, secured bankruptcy court authorization last week. The facility, which is located in Upland, Pennsylvania, serves a community with limited access to healthcare options. As part of the closure plan, Prospect aims to have all remaining patients discharged by Friday. As of Wednesday, 20 patients were still being treated at Crozer-Chester, with the Chief Restructuring Officer, Paul Rundell, noting that these patients posed challenges for transfer due to their complex medical needs and lack of insurance.

Before the closure process commenced, Crozer-Chester had over 220 patients under its care. In contrast, the remaining Prospect hospital in Delaware County, Taylor Hospital, had only 30 patients at the time of its closure last week, all of whom were successfully relocated. It is likely that many of the patients from Crozer-Chester were discharged home.

The nearby hospitals that are taking on the influx of former Crozer patients have already noted a significant impact. Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, which operates Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, reported receiving eight patient transfers from Crozer within the last week. Similarly, Main Line Health’s facilities accommodated 44 transfers from the Crozer network and have experienced a considerable uptick in their emergency department activity, with volumes rising by 40 percent at Riddle Hospital and doubling ambulance visits from Chester.

As care transitions continue, both Crozer-Chester and Taylor had previously begun turning away ambulances but remained available for walk-in patients. With anticipation of increased traffic, Prospect has arranged for two ambulances to remain stationed at Crozer-Chester’s emergency department until later next week. Local officials have expressed a desire for continued ambulance service to help manage the expected surge of patients, particularly in light of previous closures that left other facilities overwhelmed with similar circumstances.

However, the management of this transitional phase appears complicated, as Prospect’s legal counsel disclosed that the for-profit organization currently lacks the financial resources to extend ambulance service beyond what is already allocated in the hospital’s wind-down budget. The situation underscores the challenges facing healthcare systems in underserved areas during times of significant institutional change.

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