Home / News And Press Releases / Current Events Hospital Closures

Current Events: Hospital Closures

01/27/2026

The topics discussed in this post are current as of the date above. PHC4 will not be updating this page. This article is best viewed on the desktop site in your web browser. If you’re accessing this article from your phone, you can request the desktop site in the settings of most web browsers.

What Do I Need to Know?

In recent years, a number of hospitals across the United States, including several in Pennsylvania (PA), have closed due to a combination of financial challenges, workforce shortages, and changes in service delivery models. These closures have affected a range of communities, from densely populated urban centers to suburban and rural areas. Public discussion surrounding hospital closures has centered on the balance between cost efficiency, access to care, and the long-term sustainability of healthcare systems.¹ From 2018 to the time of this article, 10 general acute care (GAC) hospitals licensed by the PA Department of Health have closed, 1 GAC hospital has converted to a psychiatric hospital, 17 have merged with another licensed GAC hospital, and 10 GAC hospitals have opened in the Commonwealth of PA.

Among the hospital closures in PA were Brandywine Hospital (Brandywine) and Jennersville Hospital (Jennersville), both operated by Tower Health at the time of their closure. Jennersville was closed to patients on December 31, 2021, followed by Brandywine on January 31, 2022.² This article focuses on the closures of Brandywine and Jennersville as a case study to better understand the dynamic of recent hospital closures in the state. Both located in Chester County, the two hospitals were less than 20 miles apart from each other when they closed. The map below shows their locations in relation to each other and a few cities in Southeastern PA.

The line graph below shows the number of inpatient discharges by quarter from each hospital since 1990, the earliest data available from PHC4. This article will use the clinical data shown below and financial data, also submitted to PHC4, to evaluate the impact of these closures.

Quarterly Inpatient Discharges by Hospital, Q1 1990 to Q1 2022

Timeline

PHC4 has created a short video showcasing the timeline events immediately around the closure of both hospitals.

Each of the arrows below contains information about each hospital over their lifetime. Click the arrow to the left to expand the information under each time period.

1902 – 2001: Brandywine

1902 – Brandywine is founded in Coatesville, PA.³
1980 – Brandywine relocates to Caln Township.⁴
1984 – Brandywine Home Health Agency merges with Brandywine.⁵
1990 – The first year of discharge data available for request from PHC4 for Brandywine.
1995 – Brandywine Hospital partners with the W.C. Atkinson Memorial Community Service Center to open the Brandywine Hospital Health Center at Atkinson. The Center offered a homeless shelter and transitional housing in addition to caring for persons with no insurance or means to pay.⁶
1996 – The first year of financial data available for request from PHC4 for Brandywine.
1997 – Brandywine joins Lancaster Health Alliance.⁴
2001 – Brandywine is bought by Community Health Systems for $40M.⁴

1959 – 2001: Jennersville

1959 – Jennersville opens replacing a 5-bed community hospital established during the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic.⁷
1990 – The first year of discharge data available for request from PHC4 for Jennersville.
1996 – The first year of financial data available for request from PHC4 for Jennersville.
2001 – Jennersville is bought by Community Health Systems for $22.5M.⁴

2017 – 2022: Brandywine and Jennersville

October 2017 – Brandywine and Jennersville are bought by Tower Health from Community Health Systems as part of a 5-hospital deal for $423M.⁸
November 2021 – Tower Health agrees to sell Brandywine and Jennersville to Canyon Atlantic Partners LLC.⁹
December 9, 2021 – The agreement between Tower Health and Canyon Atlantic Partners LLC falls through.⁹
December 31, 2021 – Jennersville is closed to patients by Tower Health.² PHC4’s Financial Analysis 2022 – Volume One reports the official closure date according to the PA Department of Health as January 2022.
January 2022 – The Alliance for Health Equity, formerly the Brandywine Health Foundation, forms the Health Services Leadership Group Task Force in response to the two announced closures. Their stated goal was to develop strategies to minimize disruption of health care services and rebuild a strong and equitable health care system in the region.¹⁰
January 13, 2022 – Chester County EMS Council publishes a white paper reporting “It is anticipated that the remaining Chester County hospitals will absorb about 77% of the EMS volume from the hospitals that are closing.” Additionally, the council cited that “100% of the EMS agencies reported an increase [in wall time].” Wall time is defined in the paper as “The time an ambulance crew waits with a patient on their stretcher inside of an emergency department for an available bed.” The white paper wrote that “Wall times have been seen as long as 3+ hours due to heavy emergency department volume.”¹¹
January 18, 2022 – $2.1M in state funding awarded to Chester County Hospital to support expanding inpatient and emergency department capacity.¹²
January 19, 2022 – Canyon Atlantic Partners LLC files an injunction in the Court of Common Pleas to halt the closure.¹³
January 31, 2022 – Brandywine is closed to patients by Tower Health.² PHC4’s Financial Analysis 2022 – Volume One reports the official closure date according to the PA Department of Health as February 2022.
February 14, 2022 – Chester County Judge orders Tower Health to resume sale.¹⁴
February 24, 2022 – Canyon Atlantic Partners LLC misses judge’s deadline for posting $1M bond.¹⁵
March 9, 2022 – Canyon Atlantic Partners LLC drops lawsuit with Tower Health.¹⁶

2022 – Present: Brandywine

June 2022 – Tower Health and Penn Medicine signed a letter of intent that would allow Penn to acquire Brandywine.¹⁷
January 2024 – Penn Medicine said Brandywine Hospital did not meet construction needs. Tower Health expressed optimism it could find a new buyer for Brandywine. Penn had plans of delivering VA medical services at the Brandywine facility through its partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.¹⁸
March 2025 – Tower Health sold Brandywine to Regal Builders for $11M.¹⁹

2022 – Present: Jennersville (West Grove Campus)

July 2022 – Tower Health sold Jennersville to Delaware-based ChristianaCare for $8M and renamed it to West Grove Campus.²⁰
November 2022 – ChristianaCare receives a $2.5M American Rescue Fund Plan Act (ARPA) grant from the Chester County Government for capital improvement projects related to information technology, medical equipment and facility renovation.²¹
December 2022 – ChristianaCare receives an additional $2.5M grant from the PA Department of Human Services for facility renovation and the development of outpatient services. The grant consists of $1.5M from the American Rescue Fund Plan Act (ARPA) and $1M from the Commonwealth.²²
August 2025 – ChristianaCare Hospital West Grove Campus opens.

What Does the Data Say?

A Snapshot Before Closure

This section gives readers an understanding of the care provided and the key financial metrics, published in PHC4’s Financial Analysis Volume One, at Brandywine and Jennersville before their closures.

Between the first quarter of 2018 and the date of closure, the top five major diagnostic categories (MDCs) treated in an inpatient setting at each hospital from most discharges to least discharges were:

Brandywine

Mental Diseases & Disorders
(n = 5,337)
Circulatory System
(n = 3,216)
Respiratory System
(n = 2,511)
Infectious & Parasitic Diseases
(n = 1,864)
Digestive System
(n = 1,760)

Jennersville

Respiratory System
(n = 1, 470)
Circulatory System
(n = 1,300)
Digestive System
(n = 1,237)
Kidney & Urinary System
(n = 957)
Infectious & Parasitic Diseases
(n = 663)

The line graph below shows the annual volume of inpatient discharges for these six MDCs at Brandywine and Jennersville from 2018 to closure. Brandywine submitted discharge records to PHC4 for the first quarter of 2022, however, most of the data from that submission has been suppressed due to low volume.

Special Note About the Visualizations in this Article

This visualization’s intended use is to always have one selection. The blue oval selection in the horizontal bar at the top of the visualization indicates which MDC is being shown. If the x-axis of this graph shows multiple labels for the same year, it is because you have deselected an MDC. Please select one MDC to show at a time by clicking on MDC labels in white.

This interactive visualization reports the data by calendar year, however, PHC4 collects and produces discharge data on a quarterly cycle. PHC4 financial data is collected and produced annually. This visualization style will continue to appear throughout the article.

Annual Inpatient Discharges by MDC and Hospital, 2018 – 2022

PHC4 reports financial metrics for each hospital and ambulatory surgery center in PA annually. These financial metrics serve as critical benchmarks for assessing their financial health and long-term viability. The financial stability of these facilities depends on how effectively it delivers patient care, manages operations, and prepares for future needs. Brandywine and Jennersville operated on a July 1^st to June 30^th fiscal year (FY), so FY 2018 ran from July 1^st, 2017 to June 30^th, 2018. Not all health care facilities in PA operate on the same FY. The below visualization shows financial metrics from PHC4’s Financial Analysis Volume One by hospital from FY 2018 to 2021.

Medicare and Medicaid, known as Medical Assistance in PA, are both public health insurance programs. Medicare is federally funded and administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Medical Assistance is a joint federal and state program administered by the PA Department of Human Services. In FY 2018, net patient revenue (NPR) from these public sources made up 52.8% of the total NPR received at Brandywine and 48.3% at Jennersville. Reimbursement from these two public sources reached a peak of 86.8% at Brandywine and 86.5% at Jennersville in FY 2020.

Click on this arrow to see definitions for terms used in this visualization

Operating Margin: The ratio of operating income to total operating revenue. This measure places operating income in perspective with the volume of patient services realized by the hospital.
(operating income / total operating revenue)
Total Margin: The ratio of total income to total revenue. This measure puts income from all sources in perspective with all revenues received by a hospital.
(revenue over expenses / total revenue)
Uncompensated Care: This is the percentage of uncompensated care (charity care and bad debt) to the total care provided by the hospital. Charity care is the care a hospital provides without charge because the patient is unable to compensate the hospital through third-party coverage or the patient’s own resources. Bad debt represents the foregone revenue for care in which the hospital initially anticipated payment, extended credit to the patient, but later was determined to be uncollectable. This rate is expressed as a percentage of uncompensated care charges to total charges.
(charity care charges + bad debt charges) / total charges
Net Patient Revenue (NPR): NPR (net of bad debt) reflects revenue for patient care only and does not include revenue from other operations such as cafeteria, parking, rent, research and educational activities. Revenue from those operations is included in total operating revenue. NPR may include retroactive adjustments from third-party payers for care provided during the previous fiscal year.
Medicare Share of NPR: This figure is the percentage of NPR paid by Medicare.
Medical Assistance Share of NPR: This figure is the percentage of NPR paid by Medical Assistance.

Financial Metrics by Hospital, FY 2018 – 2021

Impact on Patients

In the visualization below, the vertical red dashed line indicates when Jennersville closed, December 31, 2021, and will appear in all of the following data visualizations in this article. This red line does not mean observed changes in the data pre- and post-closure of Jennersville were caused by the closure, it is only included for context and reference.

This section focuses on Mental Diseases and Disorders because, during the timeframe, this MDC had the highest volume of discharges at either hospital. From 2021 to 2022, Chester County residents saw an 18% decrease in hospitalizations for mental diseases or disorders in Pennsylvania hospitals. In 2021, Chester County residents had 2,621 hospitalizations for mental diseases or disorders in Pennsylvania hospitals: 1,025 in Chester County hospitals, 15 in Delaware county hospitals, and 1,581 in other Pennsylvania hospitals. The following year, Chester county residents had 2,137 hospitalizations for mental diseases or disorders in Pennsylvania hospitals: 170 in Chester County hospitals, 17 in Delaware county hospitals, and 1,950 in other Pennsylvania hospitals. In contrast, comparing the same 2021 to 2022 time period, Delaware county residents only saw a 2% decrease in hospitalizations for mental diseases or disorders in Pennsylvania hospitals, from 3,414 to 3,336. PHC4 does not collect data on hospitalizations outside of Pennsylvania.

Annual Inpatient Mental Diseases and Disorders Discharges by Patient and Hospital County, 2018 – 2024

Impact on Hospitals

The financial health of a hospital is determined by the efficiency with which it delivers care, operates and plans. Financial metrics i.e… operating margins and total margins, are important measures used in gauging the fiscal viability of a hospital. To display the impact of closure on neighboring hospitals, the below visualization shows financial metrics from PHC4’s Financial Analysis Volume 1 by hospital from FY 2018 to 2024 for hospitals in Chester County and neighboring Delaware County.

The numbers in this paragraph evaluate combined NPR from public sources, Medicare and Medical Assistance. The NPR from these sources have been summed together to calculate the percentages discussed. Since FY 2018, the percentage of NPR received by other Chester County hospitals from public sources has grown from 41.5% to 50.9%. This growth was driven by increased spending from Medicare, growing from 36.2% to 45.6%. At its peak, Medical Assistance only accounted for 6.6% of the total NPR in Chester County. In Delaware County, NPR from public sources was 63.9% in FY 2018 and 64.2% in FY 2024, however, it ranged from 55.8% at its lowest to 70.6% at its highest. Interestingly, Chester and Delaware County are trending in opposite directions. Chester County hospitals saw an increase in total NPR of 45.7% while Delaware County hospitals saw a decrease of 17.7%.

Many factors contribute to hospitals margins and the condition of a hospital’s financial profile. Generally, upward trends of any financial metrics, other than the percent of uncompensated care, may indicate a hospital is in a healthy financial condition. Consequently, downward trends may indicate a hospital is in financial distress. Subsequently, two hospitals in Delaware County, Crozer-Chester and Delaware County Memorial, experienced downward trends in operating and total margins and officially closed in 2025.

Click on this arrow to see definitions for terms used in this visualization

Operating Margin: The ratio of operating income to total operating revenue. This measure places operating income in perspective with the volume of patient services realized by the hospital.
(operating income / total operating revenue)
Total Margin: The ratio of total income to total revenue. This measure puts income from all sources in perspective with all revenues received by a hospital.
(revenue over expenses / total revenue)
Uncompensated Care: This is the percentage of uncompensated care (charity care and bad debt) to the total care provided by the hospital. Charity care is the care a hospital provides without charge because the patient is unable to compensate the hospital through third-party coverage or the patient’s own resources. Bad debt represents the foregone revenue for care in which the hospital initially anticipated payment, extended credit to the patient, but later was determined to be uncollectable. This rate is expressed as a percentage of uncompensated care charges to total charges.
(charity care charges + bad debt charges) / total charges
Net Patient Revenue (NPR): NPR (net of bad debt) reflects revenue for patient care only and does not include revenue from other operations such as cafeteria, parking, rent, research and educational activities. Revenue from those operations is included in total operating revenue. NPR may include retroactive adjustments from third-party payers for care provided during the previous fiscal year.
Medicare Share of NPR: This figure is the percentage of NPR paid by Medicare.
Medical Assistance Share of NPR: This figure is the percentage of NPR paid by Medical Assistance.

Financial Metrics by Hospital, FY 2018 – 2024

Impact on Communities

As major employers in the communities where they’re located, the closing of a hospital represents a disruption to jobs and wages. The visualization below displays data published by the PA Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis. The top visualization shows quarterly wages for the General Medical and Surgical Hospitals category from 2018 to 2024. The bottom visualization displays monthly unemployment numbers for all industries in both counties. The y-axis has been set to a maximum of 16,000 to preserve the visual variation in the data. Without this set maximum, any variation is challenging to see due to high rates of unemployment in both counties at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Click this arrow to see more information about the PA Department of Labor and Industry’s data

The PA Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis publishes a number of dashboards. The above visualization uses data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and Local Area Unemployment Statistics.

In the first quarter of 2018, the General Medical and Surgical Hospitals paid in quarterly wages a total of $80,493,090 in Chester County and $106,221,788 in Delaware County. In Q4 of 2021, when Jennersville closed, Chester County totaled $103,023,618 and wouldn’t be surpassed again until Q4 of 2024. Delaware County peaked at $117,241,136 in Q4 of 2021, and quarterly wages have been below that peak ever since, reaching $99,269,761 in Q4 of 2024. These wage figures have not been adjusted for inflation.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s (L&I) Office of Unemployment Compensation Service Centers operates a Rapid Response team that assists groups or individuals affected by layoffs. The team explains unemployment eligibility rules, guides applicants through the filing process, and answers related questions. In response to a request for information from PHC4, their office shared that 534 individuals, across both hospitals, received the services of the rapid response crew (email communication, September 2025).

The minimal variation in unemployment claims observed following the closures may be attributable to the efforts of the Rapid Response team’s assistance with helping affected workers find new positions quickly. The minimal variation may also be attributed to workers transferring to another Tower Health facility. These closures occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when demand for health care workers was exceptionally high – likely bolstering re-employment opportunities.

Interested in Conducting an Analysis of Your Own?

PHC4 collects approximately 5 million inpatient and ambulatory/outpatient records combined each year from hospitals and freestanding ambulatory surgery centers in Pennsylvania. This data, which includes facility charges and treatment information, is collected on a quarterly basis. We also collect financial data supplied by each hospital and ambulatory surgery center on an annual basis. Each piece of data is subjected to standard validation processes and verified for accuracy by the hospital or facility that reports it.

We share this data with the public not only through public reports on our website, but through special data request purchases.

For a fee, businesses, organizations, or individuals can request standard “ready-to-use” data from PHC4 or custom data that is generated based on the specific needs of the populations you’re working with. We can also link our data to other data sources, such as the Pennsylvania vital statistics data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, to provide even greater value to you.

To learn more about this process, please visit https://www.phc4.org/request-custom-data/.

References used in this article

Rural hospital closures threaten access. American Hospital Association. September 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2022/09/rural-hospital-closures-threaten-access-report.pdf
Southwick R. From having a deal to shutting the doors: Tower Health plans to close two hospitals. Chief Healthcare Executive. December 11, 2021. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.chiefhealthcareexecutive.com/view/from-having-a-deal-to-shutting-the-doors-tower-health-plans-to-close-two-hospitals
Brandywine Hospital (Coatesville). PitchBook. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/155823-67
Brubaker, H. Chester County braces for sale or closure of Tower Health’s Brandywine and Jennersville hospitals. The Philadelphia Inquirer. December 19, 2020. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.inquirer.com/business/health/chester-county-hospitals-brandywine-jennersville-phoenixville-tower-health-sale-closure-20201219.html
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing. Brandywine home health agency records. University of Pennsylvania. September 3, 2021. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/live/files/1703-pu-n-mc-69-brandywine-home-health-agency-records
Minnie McNeil – 2020. The National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://steelmuseum.org/Rebecca_Lukens_Award/minnie_mcneil.cfm
Hoffman S. A new life for hospital in Jennersville. Chester County Press. June 15, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.chestercounty.com/2022/06/15/403221/a-new-life-for-hospital-in-jennersville
Rovins D. Year end: Reading Health System buys five area hospitals. The Times Herald. December 22, 2017. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.timesherald.com/2017/12/22/year-end-reading-health-system-buys-five-area-hospitals/
Cooper K, Yu A. Jennersville and Brandywine hospitals in Chester County to close. WHYY. Updated December 9, 2021. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://whyy.org/articles/jennersville-and-brandywine-hospitals-in-chester-county-to-close/
Hospital closures: community leaders partner to minimize disruption of healthcare services. Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia. January 31, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://philanthropynetwork.org/news/hospital-closures-community-leaders-partner-minimize-disruption-healthcare-services
Closure of Brandywine and Jennersville hospitals white paper. Chester County EMS Council, Inc. January 13, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://chescoems.org/2022/01/13/chester-county-ems-council-releases-hospital-closure-white-paper/
Sappey C. Sappey, Comitta and Herrin announce $2.1 Million for Chester County Hospital. PA Representative Christina Sappey. January 21, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.pahouse.com/Sappey/InTheNews/NewsRelease/?id=122426
Yu A, Cooper K. Report: former buyer asks judge to stop Jennersville and Brandywine hospital closures. WHYY. January 27, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://whyy.org/articles/report-former-buyer-asks-judge-to-stop-jennersville-and-brandywine-hospital-closures/
Cooper K. Chesco judge orders Tower Health to resume sale of Jennersville, Brandywine hospitals. WHYY. February 14, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://whyy.org/articles/chesco-judge-orders-tower-health-to-resume-sale-of-jennersville-brandywine-hospitals/
George J. Canyon Atlantic misses judge’s deadline for posting $1M bond in deal to buy 2 Chester County hospitals. Philadelphia Business Journal. February 25, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/02/25/tower-health-canyon-atlantic-chesco-hospitals.html
Cooper K. Canyon Atlantic drops lawsuit with Tower Health, ending a renewed bid to acquire Jennersville and Brandywine hospitals. WHYY. March 9, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://whyy.org/articles/canyon-atlantic-drops-lawsuit-with-tower-health-ending-a-renewed-bid-to-acquire-jennersville-and-brandywine-hospitals/
Cooper K. Tower Health to sell shuttered Brandywine Hospital to Penn Medicine. WHYY. June 27, 2023. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://whyy.org/articles/tower-health-brandywine-hospital-sale-penn-medicine-chester-county/
Cooper K. Penn Medicine says ‘no’ to buying Brandywine Hospital from Tower Health. WHYY. January 26, 2024. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://whyy.org/articles/penn-medicine-brandywine-hospital-coatesville-agreement-terminated/
Cass A. Tower Health nets $11M from shuttered hospital sale. Becker’s Hospital Review. April 23, 2025. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-transactions-and-valuation/tower-health-nets-11m-from-shuttered-hospital-sale/
ChristianaCare completes purchase of former Jennersville Hospital location. ChristianaCare News. July 13, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://news.christianacare.org/2022/07/christianacare-completes-purchase-of-former-jennersville-hospital-location/
West Grove Campus awarded $2.5M grant from Chester County for capital improvement. ChristianaCare News. November 2, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://news.christianacare.org/2022/11/west-grove-campus-awarded-2-5m-grant-from-chester-county-for-capital-improvement/
Sappey C. ChristianaCare West Grove Campus Awarded $2.5M Grant from Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. PA Representative Christina Sappey. December 9, 2022. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.pahouse.com/Sappey/News/?id=126967
George J. Brandywine and Jennersville hospitals set to close after Tower Health calls off proposed sale. Philadelphia Business Journal. December 9, 2021. Accessed December 16, 2025.
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2021/12/09/tower-health-canyon-brandywine-jennersville-deal.html