Another Pennsylvania hospital closes its doors

A western Pennsylvania hospital has closed its doors, joining two other hospitals in the Keystone State that have recently shut down.

Heritage Valley Health System's Kennedy Hospital, just outside Pittsburgh, closed Monday. The health system announced the plans to close the hospital earlier this year.

The Kennedy hospital had been reducing services and capacity in recent years. Kennedy Hospital closed its intensive care unit two years ago, and its number of beds dropped from 120 to 77, KDKA News reported. Heritage Valley Health System cited financial pressures and offered some employees jobs at other locations in the system.

Kennedy’s emergency department closed late Monday night.

The Heritage Valley Health system operates two other hospitals in western Pennsylvania: Heritage Valley Beaver and Heritage Valley Sewickley. The system also operates dozens of physician offices and clinics and serves patients in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and part of West Virginia.

On Monday, Fitch Ratings downgraded Heritage Valley from an “A” to an “A-”, citing larger losses in 2024 and the expectation for continued difficulties in 2025. The system reported a $56 million operating loss in 2024, and a $29.9 million operating loss through the third quarter of 2025.

Heritage Valley acquired the Kennedy hospital (formerly known as Ohio Valley Hospital) in 2019, and the acquisition has proven costly to the health system, according to Fitch Ratings. The Kennedy hospital accounted for $18 million of the system’s losses so far in 2025, Fitch says.

The Heritage Valley Health System has suffered weak cash flow, declining patient volumes and commercial insurers are paying lower reimbursement rates, Fitch reports. The system is facing staffing shortages and higher costs in labor and supplies. But Heritage Valley is employing cost-containment measures and other strategies that could improve the system’s finances, Fitch says.

Heritage Valley Kennedy phased out a host of inpatient services in 2023. Up until its closure, the hospital had maintained its emergency room, outpatient surgical services, inpatient behavioral health and pulmonary rehabilitation. Heritage Valley Sewickley is eight miles from the Kennedy campus.

The Heritage Valley Health System offers a strong network of outpatient services and a good number of employed physicians, Fitch notes.

An attempt to reach Heritage Valley for comment was unsuccessful Tuesday.

Kennedy Hospital became the third Pennsylvania hospital to close its doors in the past three months.

Crozer Health, a system in the Philadelphia suburbs, was shut down in the spring, closing two hospitals: the Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital. Prospect Medical Holdings, the owner of Crozer Health, said it had to shut down the health system due to mounting costs and the inability to find another buyer. Prospect filed for bankruptcy in January.

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