The state Department of Health approved the nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation\u2019s applications to acquire and operate Commonwealth Health\u2019s hospitals in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Tenor CEO Radha Savitala and the state confirmed Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The major development represents a significant hurdle cleared for Tenor, which said in a statement earlier this week that, given state approval, it \u201cstands ready to conclude the transaction and to successfully operate\u201d Regional Hospital of Scranton, its nearby Moses Taylor Hospital campus in the city and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital in Luzerne County. It should also come as a relief to hospital workers and other stakeholders who\u2019d grown increasingly anxious over the prospect of Regional and Moses Taylor closing if the state rejected the ownership change.<\/p>\n
Concern that those two financially struggling hospitals could close absent acquisition by a new owner intensified last year after the would-be sale of all three Commonwealth Health hospitals to another nonprofit collapsed in late 2024.<\/p>\n
Tenor emerged in 2025 as that would-be owner amid a concerted, multifront push to save Regional and Moses Taylor, with Tenor signing in late October a definitive agreement to acquire Commonwealth Health in a pending transaction that includes the three hospitals and other assets.<\/p>\n
While Tenor officials originally expected to complete the transaction in 2025, the calendar turned without a resolution. Stakeholders hoping for good news on that front spent the past month waiting for a decision from the state on whether to approve Tenor\u2019s change-of-ownership applications \u2014 approval Savitala and others said Tenor ultimately secured.<\/p>\n
\u201cTenor Health Foundation is in receipt of the approval from the PA Department of Health for the acquisition of Regional Hospital of Scranton, Moses Taylor Hospital and Wilkes Barre General Hospital,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cWe thank the Department for its review and thank the Shapiro Administration for their oversight in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Savitala\u2019s statement also credited U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., noting he \u201cwas relentless in his efforts to ensure access to healthcare in the region remains strong,\u201d and state Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, D-114, Waverly Twp., who \u201cwas instrumental in getting the approval completed for her communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are humbled by (the) support of everyone involved and look forward to providing care in Northeast Pennsylvania,\u201d Savitala said.<\/p>\n
The state Department of Health directly confirmed the approvals in an email. That confirmation came shortly after Bresnahan said on social media that his team \u201creceived confirmation\u201d Wednesday that the ownership change had been officially approved.<\/p>\n
For-profit Community Health Systems Inc., Commonwealth Health\u2019s Tennessee-based parent company, also confirmed the approval.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are thrilled to learn that the Pennsylvania Department of Health has approved Tenor Health\u2019s acquisition of the hospitals and clinics of Commonwealth Health,\u201d spokeswoman Tomi Galin said in a statement. \u201cPreserving the healthcare services offered by Commonwealth Health is monumentally important to the community, and we are grateful to everyone who has helped make this transaction possible. The employees and physicians of Commonwealth Health have our deep respect for their professionalism and the quality, compassionate care they provide for their patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the final step in the approval process,\u201d Galin\u2019s statement concluded. \u201cCHS and Tenor will now work to finalize the transaction as quickly and as smoothly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes after workers and union leaders at Regional and Moses Taylor urged the state Health Department in a recent letter to consider health care access and jobs during its ownership-change review. They called on the department and state officials \u201cto do everything in your power to secure our future,\u201d describing the hospitals as \u201cessential access points for acute care, emergency services, and inpatient treatment for our region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny disruption, delay, or uncertainty surrounding ownership has real consequences for the patients, families, and communities who rely on our hospitals, and for those of us who provide care every day,\u201d they wrote. \u201cWhile we recognize the Department\u2019s responsibility to ensure compliance, safety, and regulatory integrity, we respectfully urge that those considerations be balanced with the urgent need for stability, transparency, and continuity of care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who see the pending Tenor transition as a potential lifeline for Regional and Moses Taylor have frequently voiced concern about the void in the local health care landscape their closures would create \u2014 a void other health systems and providers would struggle to fill.<\/p>\n
Geisinger officials said earlier this month that their hospitals in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties were operating above capacity at historic levels not seen even during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic. They largely attributed the acute capacity challenges to surging respiratory virus activity, but said patients switching from Commonwealth Health to Geisinger was a contributing factor.<\/p>\n
When Tenor and CHS might officially complete the transaction remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state Department of Health approved the nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation\u2019s applications to acquire and operate Commonwealth Health\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1057,201,182,803,139,28,178,180,179,802],"class_list":{"0":"post-99251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-luzerne-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news","17":"tag-top-stories-cvc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}