HARRISBURG (AP) - Tower Health plans to close two money-losing hospitals in southeastern Pennsylvania, saying that a sale has fallen through to a prospective buyer that lacked the financing and preparation to take over.

As a result, Tower Health said it will close Jennersville Hospital by Dec. 31 and Brandywine Hospital by Jan. 31, WHYY-FM, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Reading Eagle reported. Both hospitals are in Chester County, blindsiding public officials there who warned of severe economic and quality-of-life consequences if the hospitals close.

Combined, the hospitals employ about 800 people and have 223 licensed beds. Employment at the hospitals had already fallen 20% from a year ago.

In a memo to employees Thursday, Tower Health CEO Sue Perrotty wrote that the prospective buyer, Austin, Texas-based hospital management firm Canyon Atlantic Partners, has not shown the “necessary regulatory and operational preparedness, nor validated its financial ability, to complete this transaction and operate these hospitals.”

Closings also will hit Tower Health Medical Group practices, Perrotty’s memo said. Canyon Atlantic Partners did not comment.

Tower purchased Jennersville and Brandywine in 2017, as it aimed to expand from a single hospital, Reading Hospital, to a full health system. It paid $423 million for the two hospitals and three others - Pottstown, Phoenixville and Chestnut Hill - but the acquisitions left Tower Health in a financial bind.