September 19, 2022 – Cooper University Health Care plans a 10-year, $2 billion expansion of its Camden campus. The project will add three clinical buildings to the campus.
Construction of the first building is scheduled to begin next year. It will be used for clinical care and education, Cooper officials said. A later stage of the plan will create more than 100 new private rooms. When the project is completed, Cooper will have 745 beds, officials said.
Cooper has 8,900 employees, including 1,600 nurses and more than 850 physicians, making it the largest private employer in Camden County, the organization said.
Like many health systems that struggle financially, Cooper serves a large number of low-income patients with low-paying Medicaid insurance, but the Camden institution has been able to operate profitably because it also provides advanced cardiology and cancer care, specialties that get better rates from insurers.
Last year, Cooper recorded an operating profit of $159.6 million on $1.8 billion in revenue. At the end of June, Cooper had $858 million in cash, a significant amount relative to its $270 million in long-term debt, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.