Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said Tuesday they support a bid by a physicians group at the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital to run the acute-care hospital as a not-for-profit corporation.
The historic hospital is owned by for-profit Tenet HealthSystem, which had announced plans to close the 369-bed facility by March before Rendell intervened and Tenet agreed to delay closure until a June 30 deadline. The Medical College of Pennsylvania was founded in 1850 to train female physicians.
Temple University Health System and Drexel University College of Medicine also reportedly are negotiating with Tenet to take over the hospital.
Both political leaders said it's not a done deal and that extensive negotiations between Tenet and the physicians' group, the Association to Save MCP, remain.
"Since last December when Tenet announced its intention to close MCP Hospital, Senator Specter and I have been working to find an entity willing to continue delivering healthcare at that location that would meet the needs of the community," Rendell said in a prepared statement. He said the physicians' proposal "we believe best meets the needs of the community previously served by MCP Hospital."
Rendell and Specter said they have asked Temple University Health System to work with the physicians from MCP as their "education partner."
