Crozer Health’s residency program in general surgery lost its accreditation, will close Friday
Specific reasons for the program closure at Crozer-Chester Medical Center were not availalbe.
The medical residency program in surgery at Crozer-Chester Medical Center has lost its accreditation and must close Friday, according to the national group that oversees such training programs for new doctors.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education posted on its website this week that the accreditation, which has 15 training slots, was being withdrawn “under special circumstances.”
ACGME’s rules and procedures list two possible reasons for its action at Crozer: “there are a catastrophic loss of resources, including faculty members, facilities, or funding” or “egregious non-compliance with accreditation requirements.”
Crozer, owned by Prospect Medical Holdings Inc, a Los Angeles for-profit company, does not know why ACGME pulled the accreditation, spokesperson Lori Bookbinder said in an email Tuesday evening.
ACGME does not share details behind its accreditation decisions, spokesperson Susan Holub said.
It is Crozer’s responsibility to find new training sites for its surgery residents, whose program lasts five years, she said.
Attempts by The Inquirer to contact the Crozer residents were not successful.
Crozer still has accredited residency programs in emergency medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatry, according to the ACGME web site.
Closing a residency program can significantly disrupt a physician’s training. In 2019, the closure of Hahnemann University Hospital forced 570 residents to find new placements. First-year residents found out a week before they started that the hospital was closing after its owner ran out of money.