Delaware County senators reintroduce hospital reform bills

Got a question about life in Philly’s suburbs? Our suburban reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send an idea for a story you think we should cover.

The Delaware County Senate Delegation has reintroduced a package of bills to halt what the four senators deem the “financial looting of Pennsylvania hospital systems by private equity and for-profit companies.”

The legislative action comes after a year of ward and hospital closures within the Crozer Health system. Lawmakers, staff members, and community members point to actions from Prospect Medical Holdings, the for-profit owner of Crozer, as the reason for the hospital system’s financial hemorrhaging.

Last summer, Delaware County’s Democratic lawmakers came together to debut a series of bills aimed at reeling in for-profit health care. However, without control of either of the legislative chambers, the bills died before they even had a chance to be debated outside committee.

But with control of the state House this time around, a group of legislators recently revived some of the bills regarding hospital closure notices. Now, state Sens. Amanda Cappelletti, John Kane, Tim Kearney, and Anthony T. Williams are resurrecting some of the more ambitious pieces of health care reform legislation.

“This year, we’ve had to regroup and we worked with a lot of stakeholders trying to figure out how to tweak the legislation we had last year to make it even better. So the biggest difference, I think this year, is the amount of input that we got from the attorney general’s office in terms of how to structure it. The intent is still the same, basically to try to prevent what happened here with Prospect,” Kearney said.

Senate Bill 546 would prohibit for-profit hospitals. Senate Bill 547 would call for a minimum severance in the case of mass layoffs. Senate Bill 548 would require health systems, including hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices, to provide notice to the state attorney general’s office for major financial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, and sale or lease back agreements. Such notice would then be subject to a review.

No Byline Policy

Editorial Guidelines

Corrections Policy

Source