Crozer-Keystone Health System to be Sold

New owner to invest $200 million to modernize facilities and expand services.

Crozer-Keystone Health System — which runs five hospitals in the Philadelphia region and has 6,000 employees — has been sold to Los Angeles-based hospital operator Prospect Medical Holdings Inc.

Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Prospect said it will invest $200 million over the next five years to modernize Crozer-Keystone facilities in an effort to attract more patients and expand services.

Prospect also said it’s committed to keeping all five hospitals open. (They are: Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Delaware County Memorial Hospital, Delaware County Memorial HospitalTaylor Hospital, Springfield Hospital and Community Hospital.) Services that will remain in place or expand are emergency departments, trauma, behavioral health, maternity and pediatrics. It will change from not-for-profit to for-profit. 

As for jobs, Prospect said it will offer employment “to all Crozer-Keystone employees and management in good standing” at the time of the deal’s closing. It will also “honor seniority levels and enter into recognition agreements with the various labor organizations that represent Crozer-Keystone employees,” according to a statement.

Prospect will also assume Crozer-Keystone’s outstanding pension liability, funding $100 million towards benefits owed to pension participants and beneficiaries within five years of the deal’s closing date.

“We are very pleased to have a partner that shares so many of our priorities,” said Joan K. Richards, Crozer-Keystone president and CEO, in a statement. “We recognize and appreciate the level of commitment and the willingness to take on challenges that Prospect has demonstrated throughout the process of negotiating this agreement.”

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