December 04, 2024
Provided Image/ChristianaCare
A rendering shows ChristianaCare's plans for a neighborhood hospital that will open in Aston, Delaware County in 2026. The fate of Crozer Health System, the county's largest hospital network, is the subject of an ongoing legal battle that could place it under state control following the closures of Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Springfield Hospital in recent years.
ChristianaCare plans to build a neighborhood hospital and health center in Aston – the first of two the Delaware-based health system plans to open in Delaware County, where the long-term struggles of Crozer Health have diminished access to health care.
The hospital in Aston, to be located at 700 Turner Industrial Way, is expected to open during the second half of 2026. It will have about 10 inpatient beds and an emergency room capable of treating common health issues like falls, injuries, heart attacks and strokes. The hospital also will have diagnostic imaging and laboratory services.
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On the second floor, ChristianaCare plans to have a health center that offers outpatient services that will be determined based on community needs. The facility is expected to have primary and specialty care services and programs for other clinical areas. Virtual consults will be available for neurology and cardiology services.
ChristianaCare officials said Aston was chosen as the site of its first neighborhood hospital in Delaware County based on projected demographic data and input from community members, elected officials and business leaders. The health system has not said where it will build its second micro-hospital in the county.
"Our goal is to make access to health care easy, convenient and close to home in a way that is sustainable and right-sized to meet the needs of the local community," Jennifer Schwartz, chief strategy officer at ChristianaCare, said in a statement.
ChristianaCare operates three hospitals, including the 1,000-bed Christiana Hospital in Newark and the 241-bed Wilmington Hospital that serves as the health system's headquarters. In Delco, ChristianaCare opened the Concord Health Center outpatient facility in Chadds Ford in 2014. The health system also has a range of specialty care facilities and smaller health centers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.
The health system has adopted the neighborhood hospital model as part of its expansion into Pennsylvania. Its first micro-hospital will open next year in Chester County at the shuttered Jennersville Hospital in West Grove, which was closed by former owner Tower Health at the end of 2021.
ChristianaCare unveiled its plans for the Aston hospital a little over a month after Pennsylvania Attorney General Michele Henry filed a lawsuit against Prospect Medical Holdings, the owner of Crozer Health, alleging the company had mismanaged and neglected its hospitals since acquiring them in 2016. The state is seeking to put the health system – the largest in Delco – into a receivership that would maintain critical services and allow for a bankruptcy to address outstanding pension, vendor and real estate debt totaling around $450 million.
Crozer's problems led to the closure of two of its four hospitals. Springfield Hospital shut down in January 2022 and Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Upper Darby closed in November of that year, eliminating one of the county's largest emergency rooms. The health system's other two hospitals, Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, have faced service cuts and staff reductions.
On Tuesday, the emergency departments at both hospitals temporarily shut down due to a technical issue with radiology services that are in the process of being transitioned to a new vendor. The facilities reopened later in the day.
ChristianaCare was in talks with Prospect Medical Holdings to acquire Crozer in early 2022. The deal fell apart later that year, and another potential acquisition by New Jersey-based CHA Partners also broke down in October — days before the attorney general's lawsuit was filed.
The hospital closures and service cuts have had a stark impact on health care access in Delco, which is among Pennsylvania's most densely populated counties.
"We saw when Delaware County Memorial Hospital first closed their obstetrics unit, within six months Delaware County was being described as a maternal health care desert because women had so few options," state Rep. Tim Kearney, a Democrat whose district includes both of Crozer's shuttered hospitals, said in a recent interview.
Kearny called the loss of emergency services a dangerous situation for Delco residents. He praised the attorney general's efforts to put the Crozer under state control, which would prevent potential closures of the trauma, maternity and burn units at Crozer-Chester Medical Center. Delaware County's other trauma centers include Riddle Hospital in Media and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby.
"It's not just the ability to get (to hospitals), but to get there quickly," Kearney said. "If we lose the trauma center at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, then we're talking about having to drive patients to Philadelphia or to Wilmington to get those services. We don't want that situation."
