Many entities working on health care future with or without Crozer Health

While the situation with Crozer Health remains ambiguous and uncertain, health officials and partners assured the community Saturday that many are working behind the scenes regardless of what happens to the longtime mainstay Delaware County health system.

“We are working diligently to ensure there’s a continuity of care,” Dr. Gifty Key, administrator of Population Health for the Delaware County Health Department, said at the “Navigating Our Health Care System” seminar. “I want to assure you that we are working diligently behind the scenes to ensure that there’s a continuity of care, that no one is left unserved in the community.”

Delaware County Board of Health President Rosemarie Halt talked about the work being done.

“There’s multiple, multiple meetings happening,” she said. “I think there’s like 10 different subgroups addressing this. Everybody’s working on different facets. The ideal situation is it doesn’t close. That’s what everybody wants, so everybody’s working diligently on that and then, everybody’s working on Plan B, what happens next and there’s multiple plans after that.”

The issue of Crozer Health has been postponed several times before a northern Texas bankruptcy court but is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday, when a potential asset purchase agreement for the system may be considered.

“Everybody knows it’s a difficult situation,” Halt said. “Nobody likes the situation … the clock is ticking in that it’s a financial issue right now.”

She noted the involvement of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office, state Attorney General Dave Sunday, the county itself and multiple health systems, including Main Line Health.

“The health systems don’t want this to close, obviously,” Halt said. “There’s multiple, multiple people involved … Everybody doesn’t want the health system to close. It’s difficult when it’s a for-profit institution vs. a nonprofit.”

As community members asked about the situation, Halt said she wished she could tell more.

“It’s very frustrating for everybody involved … and we just don’t know,” she said. “I can say that there’s just many, many people working to make sure that this happens.”

The seminar included a panel of health care partners already providing services in the community.

“With the changes in our health systems here in Delaware County, we want to make sure we’re connecting all the dots,” Delaware County Health Department Deputy Director Stephanie Reese said, explaining that the county Wellness Line at 484-276-2100 serves as a clearinghouse of information and connection to resources for all in the county for a variety of health care and insurance questions.

Services available

The panel included Stacie Nawn of MVP Recovery; Sheila Church of ChesPenn; Amy Martin, an RN with The Foundation for Delaware County; Jeanne O’Brien of Pennie; and Maya Stewart of Keystone First.

Nawn explained that MVP provides both substance abuse and behavioral health services for all Delaware County residents and serves as a bridge connecting them to services, whether or not they have insurance, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Any Delaware County resident can call our one number at any time. It does not matter your insurance,” she said. “You will be linked to an individual in recovery … they will meet that person where they are at. They are mobile.”

That number is 855-MVP-2410 (687-2410) and there are locations in Chester and in Media.

ChesPenn, Church explained, is a federally qualified health center providing health care to adults and children in Chester, Upper Darby and Coatesville. In Chester, the number is 610-872-6131 and in Upper Darby, it’s 610-352-6585.

“Our mission and our motto is ‘we turn no one away,’ ” she said, noting that collaboration is important to address all services, whether they provide them or not.

Martin explained that the foundation provides public health programs for parents with young children and expecting parents from women, infants and children to in-home visiting services to doulas.

“We are there during a really critical time in a family’s life during that pregnancy, making sure that families are connected to everything that they need,” she said.

O’Brien explained that Pennie.com is basically the marketplace of health care plans in Pennsylvania, allowing people to pick the best plan that works for them, including people who are uninsured.

“It offers lower cost, it offers choices,” she said, noting that unlike other brokers who barrage people with calls for months, they will not call until a person asks them a question.

Stewart talked about Keystone First, a managed care insurance company that covers Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

“We have a Wellness and Opportunity Center in the city of Chester, which is like a resource hub,” she said, noting that it’s a center of resources from Wardrobe providing clothes to Welfare Pride that helps with benefit navigation to Workforce Development to monthly food distributions with Share Food to free yoga and Zumba classes. “Everything that’s out of there is at no cost.”

Donna Holiday of the county Department of Human Services’ Mental Health Services reiterated that many were working on the issue.

“I wanted to ensure all of you that we have a lot of planning going on,” she said. “We have a lot of planning going on with our Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol agencies in the county. We’re also working with our managed care organization, CCBH. They’re finding out all the access that all of our providers have, including MVP, so that we can ensure that there is continuity and we’re not waiting until the last minute. It’s really a lot of planning going on … We are planning and we’re going to make sure that everyone is connected. I assure you that.”