Reading Hospital

Reading Hospital

Founded in 1867, Reading Hospital is the flagship acute care institution of the Tower Health system, a regional integrated network serving Berks, Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. The hospital's endowment supports a 697-bed campus that houses specialized centers including the Reading HealthPlex surgical facility and operates as a Level I Trauma Center. The wealth backing this asset owner is not a family fortune but the accumulated operating surplus and philanthropic giving of a century-and-a-half-old community non-profit — channeled through the Reading Hospital Foundation to sustain clinical excellence and capital projects. Investment activity centers on healthcare infrastructure and real estate essential to the hospital's clinical mission. The endowment's portfolio includes the main campus at 420 South 5th Avenue, the Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing facility, and a retained land parcel on Broadcasting Road in Spring Township. In a significant capital-recycling move, Tower Health sold a 23-property medical office portfolio to Oak Street Real Estate Capital in a sale-leaseback transaction, shifting from direct real estate ownership to operational liquidity. The institution also participates in joint ventures that blur the line between operating and investing, including Tower Behavioral Health, a co-investment with Acadia Healthcare. These positions reflect a strategy of anchoring balance-sheet assets to the clinical network while partnering with external operators for specialized facilities. With over 10,000 team members across the Tower Health system and a combined 1,200 beds system-wide, Reading Hospital's endowment operates alongside a growing academic infrastructure — the Drexel University College of Medicine at Tower Health and the Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences. The institution holds a triple Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a professional distinction earned by fewer than 1% of U.S. hospitals. In 2024, the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania recognized Reading Hospital with a Workplace Innovators Award. Structurally, Reading Hospital's endowment is inseparable from its operating mission — an integrated healthcare asset owner where investment decisions directly support clinical service lines, residency programs, and facility expansion. Unlike a conventional foundation that grants to external causes, this capital pool functions as an internal financing vehicle for Tower Health's clinical enterprise. Oversight sits with the leadership team of a non-profit community hospital, not a dedicated investment office, making the governance model closer to a corporate treasury than to a modern outsourced CIO structure.