The nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation completed its acquisition of Commonwealth Health and its hospitals in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, finalizing the deal many see as a lifeline for the financially struggling Scranton facilities in particular.
It makes Tenor the new owner of Commonwealth’s Regional Hospital of Scranton, its nearby Moses Taylor Hospital campus in the city and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital in Luzerne County, as well as related physician clinic operations, ambulatory surgical centers and outpatient services. Commonwealth and its now former parent company, for profit Community Health Systems Inc., announced the completion of the acquisition Monday after the state Department of Health approved the ownership change last week.
CHS said in a press release that certain of its subsidiaries “completed the divestiture” of Regional, Moses Taylor, Wilkes-Barre General and related businesses to affiliates of Tenor for $33 million in cash and a $15 million promissory note from the buyer. The closing of the transaction was effective Sunday.
“Patients can be reassured that there will be no interruption in care and quality and compassionate care will be our focus,” a Commonwealth press release notes. “All hospitals, clinics, and services will remain open and fully operational, and employees, physicians, and providers will remain in place, ensuring continuity of care with the teams patients know and trust.”
The ownership transition also returns the health system to nonprofit ownership, “reinforcing a mission-driven commitment to community-based care,” it said.
The state’s recent approval of the ownership transition and its subsequent completion come as a major relief to union hospital workers and others who feared Regional and Moses Taylor would close if the deal fell through. It followed more than a year of concerted efforts by stakeholders working on multiple fronts to facilitate a new deal after the nonprofit WoodBridge Healthcare’s attempt to acquire the three hospitals collapsed in late 2024.
Tenor emerged amid that process, with the nonprofit and CHS announcing in October a definitive agreement for the then-pending transaction. Officials had originally hoped to complete the deal in late 2025, but the state’s change-of-ownership review continued into 2026 before it approved the transition last week.
Commonwealth’s press release describes Tenor as an organization “dedicated to stabilizing and strengthening financially challenged rural and suburban hospitals.” It focuseson “long-term sustainability through efficient operations, service line growth, and reinvestment in patient care,” all things cautiously optimistic stakeholders hope to see locally.
“This allows us to focus squarely on what matters most—our patients and the communities we serve,” Tenor CEO Radha Savitala said in the release. “We are grateful for the strong support of the community, including U.S. Representative Rob Bresnahan and Pennsylvania State Representative Bridget Kosierowski. As a nonprofit organization, Tenor Health Foundation remains committed to keeping high-quality care locally available and ensuring these hospitals remain strong, accessible, and responsive to community needs. We lookforward to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to improve access to and the quality of healthcare.”
The Commonwealth deal follows Tenor’s acquisition of the Sharon Regional Medical Center in Mercer County, which the nonprofit reopened last year. The Western-Pennsylvania hospital had closed in early January 2025 after its former for-profit owner Steward Health Systems filed for bankruptcy in 2024.
Dr. Patrick D. Conaboy, M.D., vice president of clinical services and quality for Regional, Moses Taylor and Wilkes-Barre General hospitals, said in the Commonwealth release that patients “should feel confident that nothing about their care changes.”
“We are here, we are open, and we remain fully focused on providing safe, compassionate, high-quality care to the communities we serve,” he said.
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