The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council’s (PHC4) article, Hospital Closures, as part of PHC4’s Current Events series, details the closing of two Pennsylvania hospitals, serving as a case study to support a better understanding of the dynamics of hospital closures in the Commonwealth.

From 2018 to the time of this article, 10 general acute care (GAC) hospitals licensed by the PA Department of Health have closed, 1 GAC hospital has converted to a psychiatric hospital, 17 have merged with another licensed GAC hospital, and 10 GAC hospitals have opened in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This article focuses on the closures of Brandywine Hospital (Brandywine) and Jennersville Hospital (Jennersville), both of which were operated by Tower Health at the time of closing. Jennersville closed to patients on December 31, 2021, followed by Brandywine on January 31, 2022. Both located in Chester County; the two hospitals were less than 20 miles apart from each other at the time of closure.

PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.  

For more information, visit phc4.org or access the article here.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) announced the release of new data detailing ownership of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) across Pennsylvania, along with updated access to care information on facility locations and services for hospitals, ASCs, and nursing homes. The data is now available for purchase and supports updates to PHC4’s online resources.

The interactive resource, MAPPED: Facility Ownership (formerly MAPPED 1), initially published in 2023, provides a comprehensive view of hospital and ASC locations alongside ownership information. The tool features an interactive map and bar graph showing the number of hospitals and ASCs owned by each health system. Users can filter results, search for and highlight specific facilities or owners, and explore detailed ownership categories through dynamic visualizations.

MAPPED: Access to Care (formerly MAPPED 2), first published in 2025, highlights areas where health care services may be limited for patients in Pennsylvania counties. This resource includes data on hospitals, ASCs, and nursing homes, promoting transparency into the types of care available at each location. Users can filter by county, facility name, or selected data points, and customize the visualization search and dropdown features.

Both MAPPED resources were designed to help patients, policymakers, researchers, and health care providers in better understanding Pennsylvania’s health care landscape. By offering user-friendly access to reliable data, these resources help to identify gaps in care and improve awareness of available services across the Commonwealth.

“These types of online tools support legislators, health care providers, and researchers to explore health care deserts in PA, while also helping patients and caregivers find care in their communities,” said Barry D. Buckingham, PHC4’s Executive Director. “Navigating the ever-changing landscape of care is a key challenge for stakeholders and these MAPPED resources provide the ease, information, and access needed to stay informed.”

PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.

For more information, visit phc4.org or interact with each of these online resources at:

• MAPPED: Facility Ownership — Hospitals & Ambulatory Surgery Centers
• MAPPED: Access to Care — Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, & Nursing Homes

The Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) has released a new brief, Strategies for Critical Access Hospital Financial and Operational Performance Improvement: A Systematic Review.

This brief synthesizes evidence from the literature to highlight practical, hospital-level approaches that can help strengthen rural hospitals and preserve access to care.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council’s (PHC4) new Cancer Surgery Volume Report, released today, provides information about the number of cancer-related surgeries performed at each Pennsylvania hospital and ambulatory surgery center, using data from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025 (state fiscal year 2025).

Reporting volume provides accurate and timely data intended to inform decisions and support effective resource allocation. Barry D. Buckingham, PHC4’s Executive Director, knows there is scientific evidence that connects quality measures and volume. Buckingham said, “Reporting surgical volume helps patients, health care providers, and communities invested in quality care and making informed decisions.” Buckingham went on to describe the new online tool, published in unification with the Cancer Surgery Volume Report, enabling ease of access and understanding of the data reported to broader communities.

This new online resource allows users to select a type of cancer surgery from a drop-down menu and use a map to select facilities reported. Supporting those looking locally or across the Commonwealth, this resource allows one to quickly access the number of surgeries for each facility. A drop-down menu by facility name is also available, which enables users to easily locate facilities performing specific cancer surgery types. This ability to quickly locate facilities, access surgical volume, and define choices serves PHC4’s mission to empower Pennsylvanians by making it easier to access the value of its reporting.

Hospital-specific inpatient volume is shown for 13 types of cancer and facility-specific outpatient volume is shown for ambulatory surgery centers and hospital outpatient departments for five types of cancer.

PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.  For more information, visit phc4.org or review the full report here.

These story maps created within ArcGIS illustrate the intersection of ambulance deserts (ADs) and health care deserts (HCDs) across all 41 states included in the original ambulance deserts chartbook. This project builds on the Maine Rural Health Research Center’s work identifying ADs, defined as populated census blocks that are outside of a 25-minute drive time from a ground ambulance station.

In addition to having limited access to ambulance services, rural residents may encounter obstacles in accessing inpatient or primary health care. Researchers address this issue in a series of maps identifying HCDs, defined as populated areas within each state that are outside of a 30-minute access standard to a health care facility. For this study, researchers included health care facilities that are certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to serve the needs of Medicare and Medicaid populations: short-term acute care hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs). Many of these facilities are either located in low volume rural areas or they are considered safety net clinics.

This data set considers all areas with at least 2,000 housing units or at least 5,000 people to be urban; rural areas are defined as those that do not fit into the urban definition. In addition to highlighting areas that are ADs and HCDs, researchers illustrate the locations of the hospitals, FQHCs, and RHCs, and quantify the number and percentage of people living in ADs and/or HCDs in a table within each of the state maps.

Contact Information:

Yvonne Jonk, PhD
Northeast Rural Health Research Center
Phone: 207.228.8038
yvonne.jonk@maine.edu

Additional Resources of Interest:

• Ambulance Deserts: Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services
• More FORHP-funded research on Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma
• More information about the Maine Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub’s topic guide: Rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Trauma

Throughout the year, the Department of Health publishes reports and dashboards on a variety of public health topics.

Learn more:

• Read about the Successes the PA-Substance Use Navigation program achieved between September 2024 and August 2025
• Check out the Report of the Quality Assurance Programs 2023-2024

The Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) is pleased to share a new brief, Trends in Inpatient Revenue and Volume Among Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). This analysis provides an updated look at how CAHs are navigating shifting care patterns in the years following the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.

The brief highlights several important findings:

• Outpatient services now comprise more than 80% of total patient revenue for the average CAH, continuing a long‑term shift toward outpatient care.
• Inpatient average daily census (ADC) declined by 5.3% over the study period, with similar trends across rurality, region, ownership, and system affiliation.
• Inpatient daily revenue declined slightly when adjusted for inflation, while outpatient daily revenue increased by 50%.

Results show that growth in outpatient revenue—rather than steep inpatient declines—is driving changes in CAH revenue mix, with implications for sustainability, service availability, and potential REH transitions.