Nurses, officials lash out at Crozer ending OR service at Taylor

At a rally Thursday afternoon, nurses and elected officials were blunt about Crozer Health’s plan to close the Taylor Hospital operating room in two days.

Two days after announcing their sale agreement with CHA Partners LLC to purchase Crozer Health, Taylor Nurses United received notice that the operating room at Taylor Hospital would close Sept. 1.

At the same time, 30 Taylor positions and 10 other positions systemwide are being eliminated, said state Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-161, of Nether Providence.

“We need to get Prospect (Crozer’s parent company) out of Delaware County,” she said. “We need to save our health care system. We need to get this system back into the hands of locally controlled nonprofits as soon as possible and I promise you I will fight like hell to make that happen.”

State Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26, of Swarthmore, called the operating room closure “another step in the death spiral orchestrated by Prospect’s greed.”

“The decision to close Taylor’s operating room is not just another blow, it’s a real attack on the health services our community relies on,” the senator said. “It’s a clear message from Prospect Medical Holdings that profits trump people and that’s something we cannot and will not accept.”

Crozer Health CEO Tony Esposito released a statement.

“We have made the strategic decision to consolidate our surgical services at our tertiary campus, Crozer-Chester Medical Center, located approximately 3.9 miles from Taylor Hospital,” he said. “This decision follows a thorough evaluation of our surgical case volumes and staffing changes. Taylor Hospital, which averages 3-4 surgical cases per day, will no longer provide surgical services due to a reduction in the number of general surgeons and a need to optimize our resources.

“Taylor Hospital will continue to serve the community by providing comprehensive non-surgical care and emergency services,” Esposito said. “We remain committed to providing high-quality care and meeting the health needs of our patients.”

Lisa Konialian is working her last week at Taylor Hospital after 35 years, choosing to retire when her position was eliminated. She started in the emergency room, moved to the intensive care unit and ended her career in the operating room.

She added that she became a nurse to care for people: “Prospect Medical Holdings is clearly not part of our community. The decisions they have made and continue to make, even after announcing the sale of the system, do not benefit our community. They benefit Prospect and Prospect alone.”

Konialian noted the closures of Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Springfield Hospital during the eight years that Prospect Medical Holdings owned Crozer Health.

“The mothers, fathers, grandparents and children in these communities are worse off today than they were before Prospect came to our community in 2016,” she said. “Think about it: we are worse off.”

Delaware County Council Chairwoman Dr. Monica Taylor said the closure of Taylor’s operating room is a serious concern for the county.

“In life-saving situations, seconds can be all it takes,” she said. “The closure of Taylor’s operating room has had a serious impact on some of our most vulnerable residents. Over the past several years, Prospect has shown little to no regard for the safety and well-being of our community and the county has done and will continue to do everything in its power to ensure the hospital remains open.”

Descent into chaos

Kearney had strong words to describe the situation.

“Let’s be clear: Crozer’s descent into chaos did not happen overnight,” he said. “It was the result of deliberate and reckless decisions. When Prospect should have been investing in the health of the community, they were busy lining their own pockets.”

Krueger said she and Kearney were in meetings with Prospect representatives in July where they asked the state for $500 million.

“We say no,” she said. “We say no to Prospect taking our money by leaving this county.”

Kearney said these types of situations require stricter monitoring.

“When they should have been paying their vendors and supporting their staff, they chose to cut corners and starve this institution of the resources it desperately needs,” the senator said. “That’s why I’ve been leading the charge in Harrisburg for the past two and a half years to pass legislation that will finally hold these predators accountable.”

He cited real estate sales and financial speculation that “treat our hospitals like Monopoly pieces. And we’re done with that. Health care is a human right. It’s about time we made sure it’s protected.”

“We cannot allow these new owners, whoever they are, to turn things around at the expense of workers,” Kearney said, citing pension cuts, benefit cuts, vacation eliminations, wage cuts and worsening working conditions.

Empowering the Attorney General’s Office?

State Rep. Lisa Borowski, D-168, of Middletown’s bill HB 2344 has passed the House and awaits action in the Senate.

His bill would require health systems to file timely notice and documentation with the state about pending sales and enter into legally binding agreements to preserve health services.

Fourteen of the last 15 hospital closures in Pennsylvania in the past five years have been the result of a merger or acquisition, she added.

It also allows the state attorney general to block leveraged buyouts aimed at removing assets from health systems, leaving them with massive debt.

The bill would also give the attorney general the right to challenge large dividend payments from shareholders to hospitals when those payments threaten the financial viability of a health care system.

It would also allow the attorney general to review the finances of an acquiring entity to ensure that it has the financial strength and knowledge necessary to successfully operate a hospital system over the long term.

“It’s time to put people before profits,” Borowski said. “It’s time to stop bad actors from further decimating a weakened system and profiting from hospitals like Taylor.”

At least one elected official said Prospect had other choices than the ones they made.

“The loss of Taylor’s operating room could have been avoided,” Kearney said. “The loss of jobs could have been avoided. The exodus of patients from a collapsing health care system could have been avoided.”

Originally published: August 29, 2024 at 4:48 p.m.