SHARON, Pa. – Sharon Regional Medical Center remained shuttered Tuesday, but many in the community remain hopeful about the hospital’s future.
“We’re optimistic. All the conversations we have with the Tenor Foundation and the conversations we have had with other entities that are interested are positive,” Sharon City Manager Robert Fiscus said. “To have people regularly telling you that we want to operate the hospital, that we want to take ownership of the hospital, that we want to continue to provide the great services they provided – that’s positive, and we get excited to hear that.”
But until Fiscus sees the hospital reopen, he doesn’t want to get too confident.
Fiscus was part of meetings Monday that led to a $10 million commitment by the community to help Tenor Health Partners reopen the hospital, although there currently is no timeline.
Fiscus said Tenor Health Partners approached the city about setting up a meeting of possible community entities and organizations that could help fund the reopening of the hospital.
Although Fiscus didn’t divulge the entire list of funders, he said the Mercer County commissioners and several local municipalities are involved, as well as the Community Foundation of Western Pennsylvania & Eastern Ohio.
The biggest funder, Fiscus said, is the Buhl Regional Health Foundation, which he said is providing more than half of the $10 million that Tenor has asked the community to raise. Tenor also has raised $10 million, he said, and the money raised locally would be used as a match.
“It was really humbling to see everyone come together with like-minded individuals who want to find a way to assist to keep the hospital open,” Fiscus said. “At this point, we are hoping to reopen it soon.”
Fiscus commended everyone involved, including the Buhl Regional Health Foundation, which took a lot of criticism when a deal fell through with Meadville Medical Center, which also was interested in operating the hospital and asking for a larger amount, reported by Buhl to be $36 million and $45 million on two separate occasions in 2024.
Although Tenor seems to be the front-running organization, Fiscus indicated the city and community are willing to work with anybody who can reopen the hospital.
“We’ll talk to anybody,” Fiscus said, “until the hospital doors are open. It’s really hard to see it closed. It’s devastating to our community. We’re optimistic because we know that there are people who want it, and we know Tenor seems poised to open it up and operate it and own it. But at this point, the doors are not closed on anyone until we see the deal inked in place.”
Though Fiscus said he and other community leaders can help with funding, they’re only advocates, and it’s not their decision who operates the hospital.
“We want to be that avenue if somebody needs help, if there is a way to advocate for someone, whether it is at the state level, the federal level or here locally to raise money, that’s why we’re here,” Fiscus said.
Tenor has indicated to community leaders that it plans to operate the hospital as a nonprofit, which Fiscus sees as a good sign because nonprofits seem to be more successful than for-profits right now, he said.
Steward Health Care System was operating the hospital and 30 others as for-profit hospitals before filing for bankruptcy in U.S. District Court in Houston in May. The bankruptcy led to Steward divesting in most of the hospitals and the gradual closure of five of the hospitals, the latest being Sharon Regional on Monday.
Sharon City Council authorized $500,000 from its own coffers toward the $10 million by passing a resolution Monday night, and Fiscus said each community entity is in the process of taking their commitments before their boards or elected officials, as well.
For the city, Fiscus said it was “not a tough sell.” Aside from providing local access to quality health care, including care that is not otherwise available locally – such as a cardiac catheterization lab and behavioral health psychiatric care for children and adolescents – the city also benefits from a tax standpoint.
Fiscus said the city estimates that should the hospital remain closed, it would create between a $680,000 and $750,000 deficit in the city budget, mostly from lost wage taxes from hospital employees, and between $150,000 and $180,000 in real estate taxes. Knowing the hospital was struggling after Steward filed bankruptcy, Fiscus said the city budgeted for that hit this year, but if the hospital does not reopen, the city would eventually need to find avenues to make up for that loss of revenue.
“It was an easy conversation to have, and I can’t commend our elected officials here enough,” Fiscus said, adding they asked good questions before spending taxpayer dollars but understood the $500,000 could help avoid an even bigger loss of revenue long-term. “It was really one of those things you can’t afford not to do. We want to make sure we’re part of the solution and everything we can do to keep the hospital open and get 750 employees back to work and, most importantly, [provide] access to health care.”
Fiscus said the entities involved in committing money have provided a letter to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Medical Properties Trust, the landlord of Sharon Regional Medical Center, alerting them that the money has been pledged. He is counting on the commonwealth to vet Tenor Health and its ability to operate the hospital. In order to reopen, Tenor would need licensing and credentialing, which will mean Tenor’s proposal to operate will be investigated.
Negotiations continue, and Fiscus said there has been a nondisclosure agreement signed by entities involved about the details of the negotiations, so he did not want to say too much.
“There are multiple negotiations going on, and we don’t want to do anything that’s detrimental to that,” Fiscus said.