Crozer Health CEO holds town hall as Delaware County officials file for an injunction to prevent termination of services

On Wednesday, Crozer Health CEO Kevin Spiegel held an internal town hall, telling employees the behavioral and substance abuse services slated to close would remain open, as Delaware County Council announced it filed a civil suit seeking an injunction to continue those services.

Requests for comment from Crozer Health Friday met no response.

On Friday, Peggy Malone, president of Chester Crozer Nurses Association and behavioral health nurse, said Spiegel held a Zoom town hall with behavioral health employees

“He announced that the services that were slotted to be closed are going to remain open,” she said, adding that the CEO said he was waiting on county funding, which was a fraction of his original $24 million ask. “They were going to order a stoppage of transferring out of patients from the methadone program.”

However, the CEO was to provide an outline by the end of Thursday, which hadn’t yet materialized and a meeting with the union scheduled for this week was postponed until next week.

“We’re going to remain hopeful that these services will be reinstated,” Malone said. “I think the county is doing an amazing job.”

On receiving news of Speigel’s town hall, Delaware County Council Chair Dr. Monica Taylor offered a comment.

“The county has proceeded on the multiple tracks of identifying alternative providers of the services Prospect-Crozer has threatened to terminate, continuing our negotiations with Prospect-Crozer, while also seeking an injunction to block its sudden decisions to close,” she said. “If the preliminary indications we have received, that Prospect- Crozer has reversed its plans for mid- June termination of service, prove to be accurate, we are gratified, and will continue working to ensure that essential services stay available to all county residents. The county will also continue to identify and work with other providers to ensure there are adequate health resources for our residents.”

Last month, Crozer Health issued a letter that said the substance abuse clinic at Delaware County Memorial Hospital would close June 10 and the “First Steps” inpatient acute substance abuse and addiction unit at Crozer-Chester Medical Center would close a day later.

In addition, the Crisis Center at CCMC would close, along with all mental health and substance abuse treatment services at the Community Campus in Chester, including school-based services, intake, assessment and referral, case management, and psychiatric rehabilitation is set to close June 19.

At county council’s regular meeting Wednesday, Taylor announced the county solicitor authorized the filing of a civil action against Prospect Medical Holdings Inc., Crozer Health’s parent company, Crozer Health and several of its affiliates.

“This lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to enjoin any action in furtherance of the termination of the important behavioral health services provided by Prospect/Crozer to the county,” Taylor said. “The grounds for this legal step is that Prospect/Crozer has not complied with the provisions of the emergency ordinance 2022-5 approved by this council on April 20, 2022 calling for submission to the Department of Health of a closure plan in connection with the termination of services such as these.”

That ordinance requires submission, and approval, of a closure plan no later than 120 days from the anticipated closure date.

“That is the standard in which we intend to hold Prospect/Crozer,” Taylor said.

In addition, she said the county has continued its conversations with Crozer Health.

“I do not think there is any inconsistency between our continued negotiations with Prospect/Crozer and our effort to seek an injunction,” Taylor said. “While we remain at the negotiating table, we will not do so under the forced pressure of artificial deadlines posed by the announced closings scheduled in approximately four weeks. The health needs of county residents will always be at the forefront of county council’s priorities and we will make decisions accordingly.”

Earlier in the meeting, Delaware County Human Services Director Sandra Garrison gave a presentation with maps showing where the concentration of those who receive these Crozer Health services live in the county.

“These residents being impacted by Prospect are struggling not only with addiction and mental illness,” Garrison said. “They also have lower incomes levels and most likely have been more impacted financially by COVID as shown by the rental assistance … Prospect is further exacerbating the disparities in our health system by impacting the community that holds a majority of our persons of color in their residence.”

County Councilman Kevin Madden said these vulnerable populations are in jeopardy of being impacted because of greed.

“What’s particularly horrifying about this is that this is being created intentionally by an organization that is ostensibly in the job of public health, of providing health care,” he said.

“There is no other way of seeing this than this out-of-state organization attempting to extract as much money as they possibly can from Delaware County without any regard, whatsoever, to the impact it has on … the most vulnerable people in our county,” Madden continued. “It’s horrendous … I really appreciate all you and all of these service providers have done to attempt to undermine their efforts to damage us in the interest of their own greed.”

The Crozer nurses only had praise for the round-the-clock efforts of county officials and staff as they work to expand what providers they have in place and find others to fill in the gaps if the Crozer Health behavioral and substance abuse closures were to occur.

“I think the most important thing is that the county has done an amazing job and we’re all going to remain hopeful because this is in the best interest of our patients,” Malone said.

She added that in the Wednesday town hall, Spiegel spoke about how Crozer Health had lost a “significant” number of provider cancellations.

“People have found employment elsewhere,” Malone said of those anticipating closures. “A lot of the providers have put in their resignation.”

Malone said she was hopeful to have the meeting with Spiegel next week as the union has some questions about his town hall announcement.

She shared her concerns about the potential closings.

“I think the biggest thing is to keep that crisis center,” Malone said. “The crisis center sees a large number of our psychiatry patients, then they go into an inpatient unit. Without the crisis center, those patients would have to be seen in the emergency room and the emergency rooms are so taxed.”

In addition, she said the pressure on the emergency rooms would be exacerbated if COVID numbers continue to rise.

“It would be extremely difficult to provide these kinds of services,” Malone said.