In a bid to consolidate operations, Crozer Health's Ridley Park, Pa.-based Taylor Hospital will cease performing surgeries.
Jeffrey Malumed, MD, president of Premier Orthopaedics, has been performing surgeries at Taylor for 35 years, according to an Aug. 15 report from The Philadelphia Inquirer. His time with the hospital will now end Sept. 1 as the system continues to shutter services and close locations across the country.
Crozer plans to consolidate surgical operations at its other locations, as Taylor Hospital performs only three to four surgeries a day. Crozer will instead move general surgical procedures to some of its ASC and outpatient settings.
"It's disheartening," Dr. Malumed told the Inquirer. "I've been with Taylor since it was a bustling institution. We had five ORs, 30 cases a day, four floors of patients. Times have changed."
Premier was still doing 700 to 800 surgeries, including joint replacements, annually at Taylor, according to the report. It accounted for the majority of the surgeries being performed at the hospital.
Premier, which has more than 35 locations in Southeastern Pennsylvania, has three ASCs where it will move some of the surgeries that would have been done at Taylor. The locations make it more difficult for patients living in Ridley Park to have easy access to quality orthopedic surgeries.
Another shuttered Crozer facility, Springfield Hospital was close to becoming home Premier's fourth ASC location, but state regulators denied a plan to put the service in the hospital, which would have required a different license, according to the report.
Prospect Medical Holdings recently announced a plan to sell Crozer Health to CHA Partners due to financial issues that have forced Crozer to cut staff and services over the past few years.