Penn Medicine will acquire Brandywine Hospital in southern Chester County, PA.
The hospital was one of two in Chester County closed by Tower Health, which has been struggling with losses and a heavy debt load. Penn Medicine (University of Pennsylvania Health System) owns a hospital in West Chester as part of its southeastern Pennsylvania holdings.
Penn Medicine had earlier ended talks on forming an alliance with Tower Health.
The move was praised by Chester County commissioners, who issued the following:
“We are pleased that Tower Health has agreed to sell the former Brandywine Hospital to Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine already provides top hospital and healthcare services in Chester County, and the expansion of that investment to the Coatesville and surrounding area is tremendous news – and certainly cause to celebrate! As Penn Medicine completes their due diligence, we will support their efforts in reimagining healthcare access to everyone in western Chester County.
“From the time Tower Health closed Brandywine and Jennersville hospitals 18 months ago, we have focused on replacing the lost services with better services, to provide greater care for southern and western Chester County residents. We were pleased to be part of the group that helped to facilitate a partnership between Penn Medicine and the Coatesville VA Medical Center that has led to the move by Penn Medicine to buy Brandywine Hospital from Tower Health.”
The site of Tower Health’s Jennersville Hospital was acquired by Delaware-based ChristianaCare for $8 million. ChristianaCare is converting the site into a center for emergency care and other services. The health care system has been seeking input from the community. Christiana Care noted that ramping up the site will take time for reasons that include much of the hospital’s equipment being taken away by Tower Health.
The area around the former Jennsersville Hospital has a large population of retirees, with first responders worried about long ambulance trips to ChristianaCare’s Newark campus or West Chester.
Jennersville Hospital is about 15 miles north of Newark, with Brandywine Hospital about 25 miles away near Coatesville.
Last year, ChristianaCare backed out of an effort to acquire Crozer Health in neighboring Delaware County, PA. Crozer has been dealing with financial issues and has not found another merger or alliance partner. Click on headline below.
(Editor’s note: Previous versions of the story had identified the buyer of Brandywine as Penn Health.
