PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--8,500 members of PASNAP today called on Governor Wolf, Attorney General Shapiro, and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney to save Hahnemann hospital. Specifically, the union urged elected officials to provide a bridge loan to Hahnemann to ensure that services are protected while a buyer is found for Hahnemann and St. Christopher’s hospitals.
Filings in the bankruptcy made by Harrison Street revealed that the hospitals pay $1.3 million per month in rent on non-hospital buildings owned jointly by Harrison Street and Joel Freedman, for a total of $11.6 million for the latter nine months of 2018. Filings additionally reveal that the joint operations of Hahnemann and St. Chris lost $15 million on about $525 million in patient revenue for the latter nine months of 2018. Hahnemann and St. Chris have been jointly operated since 2007. There were 48 hospitals in the Commonwealth with a worse operating margin in 2018, according to data provided by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Commission.
“The Governor and the Attorney General have shown real leadership in working to keep Hahnemann open,” said PASNAP President Maureen May, RN. “However, patients in Philadelphia need our leaders to take an additional step before we see disastrous results for patient care. Nurses understand that other Philadelphia hospitals simply cannot absorb Hahnemann’s patients without deaths. Philadelphia’s nurses say: keep this hospital open.”
“We know why Joel Freedman and his lenders are pushing Hahnemann’s closure: they want to profit from an extremely lucrative real estate play by building a luxury hotel,” said PASNAP Executive Director Lisa Leshinski. “Nurses understand that we can’t sacrifice patient care for real estate profits. The most vulnerable members of our community need our leaders to step in now.”