Main Line Health is adding specialty physicians to reduce wait times
By expanding into urology and GI specialties, Main Line is putting itself into competition with two large physician groups, MidLantic Urology and U.S. Digestive Health.
In the last 16 months, Main Line Health has gone from employing no gastroenterologists to nine, with two or three more expected to start this summer.
The hiring is part of a push by the nonprofit health system to reduce wait times for patients.
“We are down to three weeks” from months of waiting for a GI appointment, Main Line CEO Ed Jimenez said in a June interview. The organization has also hired six GI physician assistants and nurse practitioners to speed up care.
A similar move in urology is planned as the health system in Philadelphia’s western suburbs partially unwinds its traditional heavy reliance on outside physicians for specialty care, seeking to regain momentum after financial losses during the COVID era.
In another shift, Main Line is replacing contracted Jefferson Health trauma surgeons with its own hires. Main Line is ending its contract with Jefferson at the end of this year.
Overall, Main Line has hired 100 physicians since Jimenez became CEO in June 2025. About a third replace people who retired, but “two-thirds are brand new, accretive, so we’ve been very successful,” he said.
Some of the hiring is related to the needs of patients coming to Main Line after last year’s bankruptcy collapse of Crozer Health. That includes eight OB-GYNs and one advanced practice provider hired from Crozer.
Starting a urology department
Christopher Hartman joined Main Line from Northwell Health on Long Island in January as medical director of urology. One of his jobs is to build the employed physician group. How big it gets will depend on its success in drawing patients.
By targeting GI and urology, Main Line is putting itself into competition with private practices — U.S. Digestive Health and MidLantic Urology — it has had close ties with for years.
MidLantic’s market president, Michael Hagg, is Main Line’s system chief for urology. Main Line said he oversees urologists who are not Main Line employees.
“We continue to work and serve the communities of Main Line Health as we have for the past several decades as urologists, collaborators, and leaders across all four Main Line Health campuses, working with past and present CEOs and hospital presidents,” Hagg said in an email.
Both MidLantic and U.S. Digestive Health grew substantially with the help of private-equity backing. U.S. Digestive was sold last year to a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, SCA Health, which declined to comment on Main Line’s move into gastroenterology.
Bringing trauma surgery in house
Main Line plans to hire at least a dozen trauma/critical care surgeons to replace the Jefferson Health physicians it has been relying on for those services. Main Line’s emergency departments at Lankenau Medical Center and Paoli Hospital are Level II trauma centers.
“We appreciate the excellent care provided by these trauma surgeons. However, at this point, we believe the time is right to bring the program in house so we can continue to grow and enhance it,” Main Line said in an email.
Main Line declined to say how many surgeons it had already hired. It can’t hire the Jefferson surgeons for contractual reasons, it said.
Jefferson declined to comment.
