Crozer Health Announces Transformation Healthcare Services Plan

Crozer Health, a health system serving Pennsylvania’s Delaware County and region, is pleased to announce today a transformation plan that will redefine how its hospitals care for the community. This plan will provide healthcare access and services based on post-pandemic operational realities and community needs.  

Crozer Health’s new service offerings will align with patient-centric care, focused on essential services, and expanded behavioral health care access and services.  Crozer Health’s new plan, as outlined, requires appropriate Department of Health and other approvals prior to implementation. 

Plan Highlights Include:

• Crozer Health’s Springfield campus, Springfield, Pa. will begin serving as an outpatient facility by the end of 2022.This will provide the community with a variety of outpatient services in a convenient location for a high-quality, cost-effective, seamless patient experience that is responsive to patient and payer expectations. These will include urgent care, advanced surgical care, and outpatient services ranging from rehabilitation to diagnostic imaging.  The campus will continue to host primary care and specialty care physician group practices.  
• Delaware County Memorial Hospital campus, Drexel Hill, Pa. will begin serving as a behavioral health inpatient hospital by spring of 2023.More than 100 patient beds will be dedicated to behavioral health services including a crisis care unit, inpatient acute psychiatric care, acute detox/rehabilitation, and geropsychiatry/senior behavioral health. All other services, including the former Emergency Department, will be discontinued within 60 days to begin necessary renovations for this transformation. This opening of behavioral health beds and services will aid in the behavioral health crisis in the county and the region. 
• Crozer-Chester Medical Center campus, Upland Pa., will continue as the system’s academic and tertiary center for advanced clinical care. We are committed to caring for those facing acute medical care needs in a variety of areas through our Level II Trauma Center, Nathan Speare Regional Burn Treatment Center, Neurosciences Institute, women’s health/obstetrics services, and Level III neonatal intensive care. Here, our highly qualified doctors, nurses and care teams provide the highest quality care for a wide range of acute care medical and surgical conditions. As a teaching hospital and regional medical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine, our physicians train the next generation of healthcare providers through our residency programs, fellowships, and allied health programs. The campus also hosts an ambulatory care pavilion and professional office building with primary care and specialty care group practices.
• Taylor Hospital campus, Ridley Park, Pa.,will continue to serve the community focusing on excellent patient experience and outcomes. The campus has a busy emergency department, robust inpatient rehabilitation unit and adult inpatient medical and surgical services and intensive care.
• Crozer Health Medical Group,the employed medical group of Crozer Health, will continue to focus on population health initiatives to improve the health of our patients and the community.The medical group will coordinate an aggressive recruitment effort to align with these essential services and population health-based planning and implementation including additional primary care and behavioral health providers and staff.

“What we’ve done is assess what those needs are in partnership with physicians, the community, and local leaders,” said Crozer Health CEO Anthony Esposito. “Through this engagement, we determined that access to community-based, high-quality, safe, and effective services are key to being responsive to the community while also addressing the changing nature of healthcare today.” 

“We’ve looked at how we can provide better access to care for our patients, especially the most vulnerable, while not ignoring the pressures hospitals are facing in this post-pandemic world. We will refine alternate care models and technology to enhance this access, “said Dina Capalongo, DO, MBA, Crozer Health’s Chief Medical Officer. 

Nathan Okechukwu, MD, Crozer Health’s President of Clinical Operations and Chair, Department of Medicine, added: “Our Crozer Health hospitals, behavioral health facilities, and outpatient campus services will remain accessible when and where it counts with a focus to timely and highly reliable care.”