Lower Bucks Hospital Appears To Be On The Market

Lower Bucks Hospital appears to be for sale, and the news has shocked hospital staff.

Two employees at Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol Township confirmed to LevittownNow.com that it was their understanding Prime Healthcare was looking to sell Lower Bucks Hospital, Roxborough Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia, and Suburban Community Hospital in Montgomery County. However, hospital executives had not yet told staff of the news.

Word began to spread Tuesday afternoon after The Philadelphia Inquirer reported a Los Angeles investment bank circulated a note that three hospitals were for sale. The details from the bank match Prime Healthcare’s three Philadelphia-area hospitals, but it did not name them specifically.

A spokesperson for Prime Healthcare, a for-profit hospital company based in California, issued the following statement: “Prime Healthcare’s mission is to always do what’s best for our communities and patients, however, we do not comment on strategic merger and acquisition initiatives.”

The news of the sale caught hospital staff off-guard, according to the two employees.

The news broke as the nurses’ union has been negotiating a new contract ahead of a planned strike on Friday.

“We believe it’s incredibly important that Lower Bucks Hospital — as well as the other two Prime Healthcare-owned hospitals in the greater Philadelphia area — remain critical care hospitals for the health and well-being of their patient communities, and it is our great hope that our elected officials will join us in the call for all three facilities to remain critical care hospitals,” said Megan Othersen Gorman, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP).

A member of the nursing union, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said learning the hospital looking for a new owner was a “shock.”

Several local government and elected officials said they first heard of Lower Bucks Hospital being on the market when a LevittownNow.com reporter called them for comment on Tuesday evening.

One of the officials said a hospital administrator had previously told them the facility was “not regularly profitable.”

Citing the American Hospital Directory, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the three Prime Health Care hospitals have reported operating losses over the last five years.

The 150-bed hospital serves a large population in Lower Bucks County, which is also served by Jefferson Bucks Hospital in Falls Township and St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township. There are also hospitals nearby in the Trenton area and Philadelphia.

The 69-year-old hospital was purchased by Prime Healthcare in 2012 after losing previously $1 million per month and filing for bankruptcy.

The hospital was in such dire straits that former Republican State Sen. Tommy Tomlinson brokered a deal for the state to provide millions to pay off debt for the community hospital more than a decade ago.

Prime Healthcare has made cuts at the hospital over the years, but it also has provided stability and invested millions into facility upgrades just years after the hospital faced the possibility of having to close.

The hospital opened in November 1954 after years of community fundraising for a new medical center that was designed to serve patients of all income levels.

According to the hospital’s website, Lower Bucks Hospital serves 150,000 patients per year.

Prime Healthcare operates 45 hospitals in 14 states with hundreds medical offices.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Wednesday morning with a comment from Prime Healthcare.

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