The new owners of the former Upland, Pa.-based Crozer-Chester Medical Center are working with Penn Medicine to see which services could return to the closed campus, but neither Penn Medicine nor any other health system has agreed to run the hospital.
Chariot Equities, a real estate investment and development company, and Allaire Health Services purchased the 64-acre Crozer campus in January. The 300-bed hospital closed May 2, 2025, after Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings sought bankruptcy and could not reach a deal to keep the facility open. Prospect also closed its Ridley Park, Pa.-based Taylor Hospital April 26, 2025. More than 2,600 employees were laid off due to the hospitals’ closures.
Penn Medicine was among the potential buyers that held failed talks with Prospect prior to the hospital’s closure. At the time of the January sale, Chariot and Allaire aimed to secure a mission-aligned nonprofit health system operator within six months, with a goal to open the first phase of services within two years.
Chariot Equities and Allaire Health Services are working with Penn Medicine to study which services would best meet community needs, Yoel Polack, founder and principal at Chariot Equities, said during an Oct. 21 town hall meeting.
“Penn Medicine has made no commitment to operate. Neither has any other system at this time,” Mr. Polack said.
Mr. Polack said the hospital’s owners hope to have “more clarity” on an operator, along with Pennsylvania’s role, in the first quarter of 2027.
“We are doing our part, but it requires partnership from other organizations,” he said.
A spokesperson for Penn Medicine said in an Oct. 22 statement shared with Becker’s that the loss of significant healthcare services in the area has affected patients and families, physicians and nurses, thousands of healthcare workers and the broader community.
Penn Medicine is supporting the effort to restore access to healthcare services in an advisory capacity by providing expertise to help inform the future of healthcare services at the hospital’s campus.
“Our involvement is focused on evaluation and planning; and Penn Medicine is not operating the site,” the spokesperson said. “As this work continues, we appreciate the collaboration of the new owners, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the community as all options are carefully considered.”
Arthur Klein, MD, the group’s chief medical adviser, said during the meeting that the owners have modeled services including cardiology, oncology, neurology, neuroscience, behavioral health, and trauma and burn care. They will work with Penn Medicine over the coming weeks to review each service line.
Dr. Klein said the owners’ plan does not include inpatient obstetrical beds. He pointed to staffing, expenses and neonatal intensive care requirements, along with the unlikelihood of state regulatory approval. He also said the vision would be to have a center of excellence for maternal-fetal health so women can be evaluated and treated throughout their pregnancy.
“It’s not a very easy service to start on an inpatient basis today,” he said. “To have a women’s service that provides inpatient obstetrical care, you need 24-hour nursing. Even the most sophisticated hospitals are having trouble envisioning that.”
Dr. Klein said physician recruitment is his biggest concern regarding how quickly care can return to the hospital.
The first services on campus may come from Aston Township, Pa.-based Neumann University, which has applied for an Independence Blue Cross Foundation grant to open a free primary care clinic staffed by nurse practitioner faculty and students. If funded, the clinic could start seeing patients by March, Judith Neubauer, DNP, CRNP, associate dean of graduate nursing at Neumann University, said during the meeting.
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