PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, which serves thousands of underserved families in the North Philadelphia area, is getting $50 million in aid.
Multiple local health organizations have stepped in to provide the hospital short-term relief from financial troubles over the next two years.
In 2019, Drexel University and Tower Health purchased St. Christopher’s out of bankruptcy to rescue it from closure.
St. Christopher’s CEO Don Mueller said the hospital has the largest percentage of Medicaid patients — 83% — of any pediatric academic medical center in the country. But that rank, he said, comes with a cost.
“Medicaid pays you less than your cost of care, so you can’t make it up by having more volume,” he noted. The hospital hopes to offset those deficits through a combination of contributions from health care organizations, government agencies and donors.
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“Right now, we’re budgeted to lose about $17 million next year,” said Mueller, who has been CEO since July 2020. “This financial influx, it’s $50 million over two years, so it’s $25 million a year. We’ve got a very good runway that will allow us to not only continue and grow the services we’re providing, but also to fix some of the capital-related issues we have.
“We’ve been in a situation where we’ve been undercapitalized for a number of years. But the good news is we have the support for the next two years.”
The $50 million bequest is a collaboration from private donors, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Temple Health, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University and Einstein Healthcare Network, which is now a part of Jefferson Health.
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St. Christopher’s serves some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the country, meaning their reach goes far beyond health services, Mueller said. Its teams address food and housing insecurity, legal needs, access to insurance, utilities, and public benefits.
It also thrives in educating health professionals.
“We are a pillar of the community,” Mueller said. “We’re the 11th largest Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education training program in the country, training future doctors and nurses for the community and people really around the world. We are the highest-level neonatology area. We have a Level 4 NICU, which is the highest level neonatology area. We have a trauma program that sees over 900 pediatric trauma cases a year. Last year, we had more than 32 gunshot victims that were kids that came through St. Christopher’s. We have the only pediatric burn unit between Baltimore and New York, so we are a critical asset.”
St. Christopher’s, which recently received 501(c)(3) certification, has also received an additional $1.5 million gift to create a professional fundraising team with the help of Drexel.
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