Legislators confident Regional Hospital won't close as work to secure next operator continues

Yahoo

14-03-2025

Union health care workers at Regional Hospital of Scranton, elected officials and other stakeholders are continuing their public push to save the facility following the late 2024 collapse of a sale many considered a potential lifeline.
Efforts to safeguard lives and livelihoods at Regional and its Moses Taylor Hospital campus have been ongoing since the nonprofit WoodBridge Healthcare's would-be purchase of those Commonwealth Health facilities, Commonwealth's Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and other health care assets fell through for lack of financing. The sale's collapse in November renewed concern that Regional could close absent acquisition by another buyer and prompted an ongoing search for the next potential owner.
Against that backdrop, the SEIU Healthcare workers' union and other advocates held Thursday another town hall aimed at preserving critical services at Regional and Moses Taylor and the union jobs necessary for the delivery of care there. It was the second such town hall held at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center since December, when Democratic state Rep. Bridget Kosierowski — a longtime nurse and local leader on the issue of health care access — reported that other health care organizations had expressed interest in potentially taking over the Scranton hospital facilities.
Regional and Moses Taylor are separate facilities but operate under a single license following a 2022 merger, with operations coordinated across the two campuses. When advocates talk about saving Regional, they're referring to jobs and services at Moses Taylor as well.
'I feel a little bit of déjà vu,' Kosierowski told the crowd at Thursday's town hall. 'We were here in December, and we were very hopeful (that) by now we would be able to have an announcement about where our future is with Regional. I do know and I am very confident to say that we are going to keep this hospital open. These doors will remain open, because the service lines that are provided and the staff that provides those service lines — specifically OBGYN, cardiac and emergency room — are vital to this community and it would be catastrophic if they were to be taken away.'
Finding another organization to take over the hospital and service lines remains an active effort, she said, stressing the adverse impact a closure would have on a local health care landscape already grappling with inpatient capacity constraints, crowded emergency rooms, workforce pressures and other challenges.
A 2023 Community Benefit Report for Regional and its Moses Taylor campus put the number of patient encounters there, at Commonwealth Health Physician Network clinics and other outpatient sites at 381,000 that year — demand SEIU and other advocates argue surrounding facilities would be unable to absorb should the Commonwealth facilities close or cut services.
A closure would also create a major void in terms of birth and delivery services, as Regional accounts for about 70% of the births in Lackawanna County, SEIU said in a press release.
Kosierowski told the crowd at Thursday's town hall that Geisinger and Lehigh Valley Health Network, which operate Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Dickson City, respectively, are 'as desperate as you are' to make sure Regional stays open.
'Because we all know the waiting time in those hospitals now is at a high level,' she said. 'They're overrun, they're stressed, their workforce is stressed, so for them to have to entertain the possibility of Regional closing is just as frightening and stressful for them as it is for you all here in this room.'
As the push for a new operator continues, organizers announced Thursday the launch of a 'Coalition to Protect Regional Care and Jobs' that handed out window signs for residents and businesses. The coalition also launched an online open letter at protectregionalcareandjobs.org expressing a commitment to work collaboratively with the hospital's next owner, whoever it might be, to improve and expand care, preserve union jobs and address community concerns related to health care.
While acknowledging the uncertainty, anxiety and unease many workers and patients feel, Democratic state Rep. Kyle Mullins shared Kosierowski's confidence that Regional will remain open.
'To the extent that you can trust us, and that you're willing to, I'm sitting here telling you that leadership (at) the highest levels of our state government are working to ensure that these doors of Regional Hospital will not close,' he said. 'There are multiple nonprofit, reputable operators at the table, and I'm looking all of you square in the eye and telling you I don't know who they are. We are not privy to that … at this point in the process because there are nondisclosures and things involved.'
But Mullins said he and others have repeatedly been reassured that the parties involved in those behind-the-scenes conversations are negotiating in good faith. He also noted that local state legislators working with the governor's budget office secured funding for a facility assessment providing prospective buyers with a better idea of what type of investment Regional might require — information meant to inform a potential deal.
'There are really, really good people in all parts of this conversation trying mightily to bring this to a resolution,' Mullins said.