Tower Health announced Tuesday a letter of intent to sell Chestnut Hill Hospital and more than a dozen urgent care centers to Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic for an as-yet undetermined sum. The hospital will remain open and operating while the deal is being finalized, officials said.

“They’ve been interested in us from the get-go,” said CEO John D Cacciamani. “Their excitement about Chestnut Hill has been high, and that’s really wonderful. And from the corporate perspective they have a strong balance sheet, so there are a lot of synergies there.”

The system as a whole has about 14,000 employees, and of those, 879 work at Chestnut Hill.

In a statement, officials said the organization is "fully committed to placing as many impacted employees and physicians as it can into other positions within the system. Impacted employees will also get priority consideration for open positions at Penn Medicine.”

The move is expected to significantly reduce the Berks County-based health system presence in the Philadelphia region.

Tower Health, which operates six medical centers in southeastern Pennsylvania, has been losing money since it acquired five Philadelphia area hospitals in 2017, and for the past two years those losses have climbed, largely due to COVID-19:  $244 million in fiscal 2021 and $415 million in fiscal 2020.

Tower Health had been exploring a sale for some time, and then announced in late July that it intended to pursue an alliance with Penn Medicine.

Tower Health said it will continue to operate St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, which it owns in a partnership with Drexel University, "while working with local and state agencies and organizations to help secure its long-term future."

The health system also said its partnership with Drexel University College of Medicine will continue, and the ongoing alliance process with Penn Medicine is not affected by this announcement, the health system said.

“While we have made considerable progress and are in a stronger financial and operational position than we were last year, we must make additional tough decisions that will firmly establish our health system for decades to come,” said P. Sue Perrotty, CEO of Tower Health.

James L. Woodward, CEO of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, said the health system is "pleased to be in discussions" with Tower Health to expand its existing network of care in Pennsylvania. "We are committed to retaining employees and providers of Chestnut Hill Hospital and acquire urgent care centers who are in good standing," Woodward said in a statement.

The moves announced Tuesday do not impact Tower Health's Reading Hospital, Phoenixville Hospital, Pottstown Hospital, or Tower Health at Home.