Jefferson Health and Temple University issued a joint statement saying Jefferson’s planned acquisition of Fox Chase Cancer Center won’t be happening because of the pandemic.
“This transaction is the latest casualty of COVID-19,” Stephen K. Klasko, president of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health, said in the statement. “Because of the tremendous impact that the virus has had on our operations, Jefferson must focus entirely on providing patient care and safety, student education and safety, and the well-being of our dedicated employees.”
The announcement caught some Fox Chase employees off guard, like Roland Dunbrack, who is a professor in the molecular therapeutics program at Fox Chase.
“We were beginning to have conversations with (Jefferson) about joint programs and collaborative grants,” he told KYW Newsradio. “And we found many synergies that were possible, so to have that taken away all of a sudden was a surprise.”
Dunbrack runs a small lab at Fox Chase, and he was looking forward to being able to share resources.
“They have a lot of experimental equipment in my field that I was hoping to help my Fox Chase colleagues use down at Jefferson,” he said. “That’s just an example, there were many other facilities where many of my colleagues would be doing something similar.”
In the statement, Temple President Richard Englert said, “We fully understand and accept this reality, and we look forward to identifying new ways for our institutions to work together in the future to better serve our community.”
“Obviously we can continue to talk to them and continue to work with them,” added Dunbrack. “But being in the same institution does give you an incentive to work together. Shared resources that come from the universities would help get research going and if you’re in the same institution that’s easier.”
Joshua Nemzoff, who runs Nemzoff & Co out of Bucks County where he advises clients who buy and sell hospitals, isn’t surprised the deal is off the table.
“It’s the pandemic,” he told KYW Newsradio. “Jefferson has a lot on its plate to deal with what’s happening with this tragedy, as do all the hospitals in the area. They really do not have the time or resources to conduct an acquisition like this.”
Nemzoff is aware of other hospital deals that fell through recently, but he said that doesn’t mean talks can’t resume again.
“All the metrics that were in place that made sense for Jefferson to acquire this hospital are still in place,” he explained. “I don’t think this merger is dead. I think it just got postponed for a little while.”
KYW Newsradio reached out to both universities for comment beyond what is in the statement, and both declined.