St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA—The proposed $50-million sale of the St. Christopher's Hospital for Children here by Tower Health and Drexel University was approved earlier this week by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross said at a hearing on Monday that he would approve the sale subject to final documentation being submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, DE, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Last week, Tower Health and Drexel University announced they had entered into an agreement to acquire St. Christopher's Hospital for Children for $50 million in a deal they said would ensure that the health care provider would "continue its role as a vital resource for families in North Philadelphia and the region."

"Tower Health and Drexel are committed to the North Philadelphia community—including the more than 30,000 children who depend on the hospital for their primary care and the 70,000 children served annually by the hospital's emergency department—as well as its growing network of primary and specialty care locations throughout the Philadelphia suburbs and New Jersey," said Clint Matthews, president and CEO of Tower Health.

The sale of St. Christopher's to Tower and Drexel is part of the process to resolve the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed by American Academic Health Systems LLC, of which Center City Healthcare—the owner and operator of St. Christopher's—is a subsidiary, on June 30, 2019.

Tower and Drexel affirmed their commitment to keeping the hospital intact, while providing operational expertise and financial security to strengthen the venerable institution that has been a fixture in North Philadelphia for 144 years.

Tower Health says it will take the lead operationally and work to preserve St. Christopher's legacy of providing quality health care for families and nationally recognized programs for children.

In addition to serving as a critical resource for the care of children in underserved neighborhoods, St. Christopher's is also an important part of medical student education for the Drexel University College of Medicine.

"St. Christopher's and Drexel's College of Medicine have had a long-standing and successful academic affiliation for pediatric clinical education," said Drexel President John Fry. "It has served as an important training site for more than 20 years for Drexel's third- and fourth-year medical students and their hospital-based clinical rotations in pediatrics."

Tower Health and Drexel will assume operations of St. Christopher's Hospital prior to the end of the year. The new owners vowed a seamless transition with St. Christopher's existing partners.

Tower Health consists of Reading Hospital in West Reading; Brandywine Hospital in Coatesville; Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia; Jennersville Hospital in West Grove; Phoenixville Hospital in Phoenixville; and Pottstown Hospital in Pottstown. It also includes Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing; Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences in West Reading; home healthcare services provided by Tower Health at Home; and a network of 22 urgent care facilities across the Tower Health service area.

The Drexel University College of Medicine currently educates more than 2,000 future physicians, biomedical scientists and health professionals. It offers some of the most innovative and rigorous academic programs available, incorporating the Drexel's expertise in engineering and technology into patient-centered medical training. The college is home to one of the nation's leading centers for spinal cord research; one of the foremost centers for malaria study; and a highly regarded HIV/AIDS program with extensive NIH-funded research in prevention and therapeutic interventions.

Instant Insights /

Tower Health-Drexel University to Pay $50M for St. Christopher's Hospital for Children

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