Who is CHA Partners? Here’s what to know about the New Jersey company looking to buy Delco’s Crozer Health

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CHA Partners LLC emerged last week as the mystery suitor interested in acquiring Crozer Health and its ailing four-hospital system in Delaware County.

The New Jersey–based real estate firm has a record of buying, stabilizing and selling struggling hospitals, but at least one organization with a history with the company says they’re skeptical about CHA saving health care in Delco.

“It’s really just shocking that both CHA and another community would be interested in going down the same road that we’ve gone [down],” said Paul DiLorenzo, executive director of the Salem Health and Wellness Foundation.

Since its founding in 2008, CHA Partners has acquired and turned around five hospitals in New Jersey. The list includes the Barnert Medical Arts Complex in Paterson, the Greenville Medical Arts Complex in Jersey City, the William B. Kessler Medical Arts Complex in Hammonton and the Muhlenberg Medical Arts Complex in Plainfield.

The fifth and most recent hospital project involved the 2019 acquisition and revival of Salem Medical Center, formerly known as Memorial Hospital of Salem County. The hospital was on the brink of closure after years of a shrinking patient population and aging infrastructure.

“CHA offered to take over the hospital, but needed local support as a part of the initial investment,” DiLorenzo said.

Salem Health and Wellness Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports public health and social services programs in the community, agreed to step in.

According to court documents, the foundation gave Salem Medical Center and CHA Partners about $39 million in grants and loans to save the local hospital.

CHA Partners sold Salem Medical Center to Inspira Health Network in 2022, but DiLorenzo said the real estate firm still owes the community foundation upwards of $4 million in unpaid loans and legal fees.

The majority of the loan balances were forgiven and the Salem community foundation sued CHA Partners to recoup the rest. They won in court this past May, but DiLorenzo said the foundation has yet to receive any payments.

Now, as the real estate firm moves to acquire another hospital system — Crozer Health in Delco — DiLorenzo said anger “is an understatement.”

“It’s astounding to us that CHA would be negotiating to do that when they’re not doing anything in good faith to pay the bills that are owed to us and to make the people of Salem County whole again,” he said.

CHA Partners declined to comment on its pending deal with Crozer Health or its standing with Salem Health and Wellness Foundation, which was involved with just the single hospital in Salem and not any of the other four New Jersey hospitals that CHA has acquired and stabilized.

CHA recently signed a letter of intent to purchase the hospital system from Crozer Health’s parent company, Prospect Medical Holdings.

The real estate firm would transition the health system from for-profit to nonprofit status, according to Crozer officials who announced the preliminary, nonbinding deal to staff last week. Prospect will work with CHA over the next few months to complete a transfer of ownership, but until then, there are no guarantees of a completed sale.

Prospect and Crozer officials declined to comment specifically on CHA’s history with the hospital in Salem, New Jersey, and the Salem Health and Wellness Foundation. But in an announcement to staff, Crozer leadership described CHA as a company committed to “preserving health care and jobs in the communities it serves” and turning around hospitals, with “each dedicated to providing exceptional care to local residents.”

Following the recent news of a potential new buyer for the Crozer Health system, Pennsylvania state Sen. Tim Kearney released a statement Thursday with concerns about the potential deal.

“The health and well-being of our constituents in Delaware County must be the top priority,” Kearney said. “I am calling on the Attorney General to conduct a thorough analysis of this acquisition. CHA’s track record must be carefully examined to determine if it is indeed a responsible and suitable buyer that will prioritize the health care needs of our community.”

After their experience in Salem County, DiLorenzo echoed those precautions. And while he blames CHA for failing to pay his foundation back, he said this is all a symptom of widespread challenges facing the United States health care industry.

“Poor communities, poor rural communities in particular, are really struggling to make the equation of all this work,” DiLorenzo said. “You have low insurance reimbursement rates, you don’t have the number of people to create a volume, you have health care systems that you know are trying to make the investment in communities, but they can’t make the numbers work. So, this is something that’s bigger than just Salem or just Delaware County.”

Crozer Health is the region’s main EMS provider and home to its primary trauma center and contains the county’s only burn unit. Last October, parent company Prospect Medical Holdings agreed to a deal with the state Attorney General’s Office and the Foundation for Delaware County to sell the distressed hospital system.

In February, the court-approved plan set in motion a 270-day window for Prospect to locate a nonprofit buyer.

WHYY News first reported last month that Prospect had found a potential buyer, but the identity of CHA Partners was not revealed until this past week. Prospect had also asked Pennsylvania officials for $100 million to $500 million in state funds to help finance the deal.