ChristianaCare looking to acquire Crozer Health from Prospect Medical Holdings

Wilmington, Delaware-based ChristianaCare Health System is moving to acquire Crozer Health’s hospitals and related businesses from Prospect Medical Holdings, the organizations announced Friday.

The parties have signed a letter of intent to explore and negotiate a transaction that, pending regulatory approvals and other terms, could be set in stone during the second quarter of 2022 and close before the end of the year, according to the groups’ announcement.

Pennsylvania’s Crozer Health was formed in 1990 with the merger of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Delaware County Memorial Hospital and has since swelled to include two more hospitals and a total 4,000 employees. It was acquired by Prospect Medical Holdings in 2016.

ChristianaCare said in the announcement that it would return Crozer Health to nonprofit status upon closure of the deal. The purchase would also include other assets such as real estate, Crozer Health Medical Group, ambulatory centers, medical office buildings, physician clinics and ancillary outpatient services.

“The pandemic has demonstrated the vital importance of working together to meet the clinical needs of the communities we serve,” Kevin M. Spiegel, CEO of Crozer Health, said in a statement. “We are excited by the potential to join these two great organizations so that we can continue to provide the high-quality, accessible care that our communities—[Pennsylvania’s] Delaware County and beyond—rely on.”

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The letter of intent announcement outlined complementary strengths and commitments to value and population health between the two organizations.

Specifically, ChristianaCare and Crozer Health both run “vibrant” medical education programs and “sophisticated, high-quality” trauma centers within the region.

“ChristianaCare and Crozer Health have been serving the people of Northern Delaware, Southeast Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland and New Jersey as neighbors for many years,” said Janice E. Nevin, M.D., ChristianaCare president and CEO, in a statement. “We welcome this opportunity to explore a closer relationship with an organization that shares our commitment to value and service to the community.”

The deal is the second planned sell-off announced this week by Prospect Medical Holdings, which on Thursday announced it would be handing over two Connecticut health systems to Yale New Haven Health by the end of the year.