Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2019 - 12

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Feature

What Hahnemann's
Closing Means to Me
By: Robert Kucejko, MD, MS, MBA, Fourth Year General Surgery Resident,
Hahnemann University Hospital

T

he scheduled September closing of Hahnemann University Hospital (HUH) will
be devastating for the city of Philadelphia. The closing will eliminate about 2,500
jobs and will place a heavier burden on other city hospitals which will have to take
on the thousands of emergency and other patients served by Hahnemann each year.

Established in 1885 as the home of Hahnemann Medical College, which was founded
in 1848, the hospital is named after Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy.
Hahnemann has had deep roots in the Philadelphia area since its inception and has been
a center of innovation for treatment and public health.
HUH performed the region's first kidney transplant in 1963. It became the region's first
Level 1 trauma center and air medical program in 1986. In the 1990s, in conjunction with
the school of public health at Hahnemann University, it was a leader in treating HIV in
Philadelphia. In 2001, the region's first and only artificial heart transplant was performed
at HUH. In 2016, it became the first hospital in the region to transplant HIV+ organs,
allowing other patients previously ineligible for organ transplant to receive surgery. In the
same year, it became the first hospital in the region to offer transgender services. It is often
designated the "presidential" hospital when the commander in chief is in town.
While Hahnemann has maintained its leadership position in teaching, treatment and
public health over its illustrious history, it has also been plagued by one financial crisis after
another. In 1993, it was purchased by Allegheny Health, which combined Hahnemann with
the Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP), previously known as the Women's Medical
College of Pennsylvania, into Hahnemann MCP.
Just five years later, Allegheny declared bankruptcy and Hahnemann was acquired by
Tenet Healthcare, a for-profit investor-owned conglomerate based out of Dallas, Texas.
Over the next 20 years, the hospital provided excellent care, but continued to struggle
with its bottom line. In January 2018, Tenet sold Hahnemann and St. Christopher's to
American Academic Health System (AAHS), an affiliate of Paladin Healthcare. A year
and a half later, AAHS filed for bankruptcy, and announced the anticipated closure date
of September 6, 2019.
At the time of the announcement, Hahnemann was a 496-bed academic tertiary care
hospital with an active Level 1 trauma designation and many other areas of excellence. In
2016, HUH had more than 16,000 inpatient discharges and until now served up to 150
patients a day in the emergency department.
The hospital's nurses, doctors and other staff will lose their jobs by the end of August.
The loss of HUH's 570 ACGME-approved resident and fellowship spots marks the largest

12 Philadelphia Medicine : Summer 2019
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Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2019

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