March, 2023 – Community Hospitality Healthcare Services (“CHHS”) celebrates the successfully closed on an important New Markets Tax Credit (“NMTC”) investment in to Public Health Management Corporation (“PHMC”) to support the acquisition, rehabilitation, and equipping of the former Mercy Hospital into a nearly 450,000 square foot public health campus, located within a medically underserved area of Philadelphia, PA. The new, integrated public health campus offers four health programs to the region in addition to providing comprehensive health services to more than 24,800 unique patients annually.

The project will include a 203-bed upgraded hospital,  Federally Qualified Health Center, inpatient pediatric crisis response and stabilization center, dental clinic and various social service and child welfare programs. Additional programs include a Community Health Hub to host a range of community-based programs such as job training and financial literacy courses as well as pharmacy, lab and health screening services. Serving as the only nonprofit inpatient hospice unit in the area, the Serenity Court Medical Respite & VNA Inpatient Hospice Unit will provide post-acute medical care to individuals experiencing homelessness who have been released from a hospital stay and are too ill or frail to recover in a homeless shelter. Upon its completion, the health campus will provide critical care, primary care and behavioral health services to a community experiencing the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, violent crime, and mortality due to drug overdose compared to the rest of the City of Philadelphia. 

The public health campus will be anchored by a coalition of the region’s top health care institutions: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Public Health Management Corporation. Together, these institutions will support the creation of 364 healthcare service-related positions as well as retain and relocate 752 positions which were at risk due to closure of a major health employer in 2020. All positions have access to a comprehensive employee benefit package with the opportunity to participate in a tuition reimbursement and academic partnership program. 

CHHS founder and Executive Director Ben Cirka commented on the investment’s impacts, “CHHS is proud to be a part of PHMC’s initiative to reestablish quality, accessible health services within this underserved region of the City. This important project will provide quality medical care and community enrichment programs to support a healthier and stronger Philadelphia.”

PHMC is a nonprofit public health institute with the mission to improve the health of the community by providing health outreach, education and direct services though partnerships with government foundations, businesses and community-based organizations. Since 1972, PHMC has established more than 350 medical programs spanning across behavioral health recovery, nurse-managed primary care, chronic disease management and prevention, homeless health services, parenting support and much more.

CHHS specializes in investing in healthcare facilities located in low-income areas that are medically underserved throughout the country. To date, CHHS has been awarded more than $490MM in NMTC allocation to healthcare related projects, which supported job creation and retention and provide access to quality affordable healthcare and extended services to more than 600,000 low-income persons annually.