SHARON, Pa. – As the reopening of Sharon Regional Medical Center continues to be delayed, Pennsylvania Sen. Michele Brooks indicated Thursday she intends to take legislative action.

In a memo sent to her fellow senators, Brooks, R-50th, indicated she will introduce legislation to provide an alternative pathway for resolution of disputed inspection findings by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for hospitals and health care facilities.

The Sharon hospital closed Jan. 6 as part of the Steward Health Care System bankruptcy process. Tenor Health Foundation Sharon LLC, which acquired the hospital in January, has not been able to obtain the necessary licenses to operate it. 

California-based Tenor, which has never operated a hospital, plans to reopen Sharon Regional as a nonprofit medical facility.

“The Department of Health’s top priority will always be patient safety, and we will continue to hold health care providers to high standards to ensure Pennsylvanians are safe,” said Mark O’Neill, Pennsylvania Department of Health press secretary. “Tenor Health is seeking to reopen under Steward Health’s license and is also pursuing a change in ownership to transfer licensure at a later date.

“While we continue to closely engage with Tenor Health regarding its reopening efforts and address deficiencies, specific details of deficiencies remain confidential at this stage as part of standard due process.”

The health department reportedly has been working with Tenor to expedite the process, but O’Neill said the department is unable to provide any timeline.

Brooks’ bill, which she has not introduced yet, would offer an alternative route for dispute resolution, such as an appeals process that would allow disputed claims to go before an independent fact finder for a fair and timely resolution.

The Sharon hospital is in Brooks’ district.

In her memo, Brooks, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, asked other senators to support the legislation.

“While the [health] department plays an important role in enforcing Pennsylvania’s health and safety standards, disputes often arise over the scope and validity of cited deficiencies,” Brooks wrote in the memo. “Healthcare facilities are often forced to comply with findings they believe are unnecessary or inaccurate, leading to the unnecessary costs, delays or closures.”

Brooks wrote that hospital closures have become a statewide problem, with noncritical survey findings sometimes becoming a deciding factor on whether a facility can reopen.

“This needlessly denies entire communities the critical care services they urgently need. If a hospital can address these issues while serving patients, then it should not be held to a different standard simply because its doors are temporarily closed,” Brooks wrote. “We should be finding pathways to reopen facilities, not creating new barriers.”

Two weeks ago, Debra Bogen, Pennsylvania secretary of health, spoke in front of commonwealth senators as part of a committee budget hearing for her department. At the time, she stated that the deficiencies at Sharon Regional had been placed into two buckets – ones that need to be fixed before reopening and those that can be addressed after.

Bogen testified that her department was working with Tenor to expedite the process. “But, again, we are really not in a position to negotiate patient safety,” she said.

Brooks and Tenor CEO Rahda Savitala could not be reached to comment.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to add a statement from the Pennsylvania Department of Health press secretary.