North Philly Health System Files for Bankruptcy

Girard Medical Center, part of the North Philadelphia Health System, near 8th Street and Girard Avenue. | Photo via Google Street View

The North Philadelphia Health System filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last week, the latest in a long line of financial troubles for the NPHS. The Philadelphia Business Journal first reported the bankruptcy this week.

The system was created in 1990 by combining two hospitals that had filed for bankruptcy at the time: Girard Medical Center, at 8th and Girard, and St. Joseph’s Hospital, at 16th and Girard. In March of last year, NPHS closed St. Joseph’s after the state reduced its subsidy for poorer residents.

Becker’s Hospital Review reports that NPHS listed both its assets and liabilities at between $10 million and $50 million.

St. Joseph’s, a 146-bed acute care facility, closed just eight years after NPHS upgraded the department. The health system sold land next to the hospital last year to pay off the debt incurred for that upgrade. As many as 675 workers lost their jobs in the closing of St. Joseph’s.

According to Becker’s, the health system was in the black in fiscal year 2013 but lost $1.4 million in FY 2014.

Girard Medical Center, a psychiatric hospital with 168 beds, remains open. The bankruptcy case is pending.