When a safety-net hospital in Philadelphia closed recently, many predicted a crisis.
But there was no crisis.
Instead, patients previously served by Hahnemann University Hospital, a Pennsylvania safety-net hospital that served especially large numbers of Medicaid and uninsured patients, are now being served by other safety-net hospitals in Philadelphia: mostly, Jefferson Health, the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Einstein Healthcare Network, and Temple University Hospital. All report increased volume in their emergency rooms, more ambulance arrivals, and more inpatient admissions, but at least so far, they also report that they are comfortably handling the increased patient volume created when Hahnemann closed its emergency room and discharged its last patients in July.
Learn more in the Philadelphia Inquirer article “Hahnemann’s end was expected to be a crisis. But that’s not what happened, Philly health officials say.”