last weekend<\/a>, but extended that deadline another two weeks following fierce outcry from local and state officials. The state Department of Health has not approved the hospital\u2019s closure, and has asked Hudson Regional to provide more information in its closure application.<\/p>\nHudson Regional had \u201ccommitted to providing long-term, high-quality health care in the Heights, and an additional two weeks fails to fulfill that promise,\u201d Jersey City Mayor James Solomon and two members of the City Council said in a joint statement at the time. His offices referred back to that statement this week.<\/p>\n
The state Department of Health would seek to establish that Hudson Regional\u2019s closure plan still leaves residents of the Heights, and the area on the whole, with sufficient resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the anticipated closure date has been extended, this action does not change the fact that HRH remains out of compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements,\u201d Raynard Washington, the acting state health commissioner, said last week. \u201cThe state will continue to exercise all available options to enforce regulatory authority while safeguarding public resources and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaudhuri said Heights University Hospital lost $74 million last year and is projected to lose another $30 million this year as it faces federal cuts to Medicaid, state cuts to charity care and rising rates of uninsured patients. He added that Hudson Regional Health CEO Yan Moshe is putting up $1 million of his own money to keep the hospital open through March 14.<\/p>\n
State authorities provided $2 million in emergency aid last fall to help keep the hospital open.<\/p>\n
HPAE, the union White leads, also represents nurses and staff at Palisades Medical Center, Bayonne University Hospital and Secaucus University Hospital.<\/p>\n
Hudson Regional Health operates three other hospitals in the county: Bayonne University Hospital, Hoboken University Hospital and Secaucus University Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past several months, the HRH network in Hoboken, Bayonne and Secaucus \u2014 all with sustained, sufficient capacity \u2014 has efficiently absorbed patients with the highest level of care,\u201d Chaudhuri said.<\/p>\n
Jersey City started the 2000s with three hospitals. Greenville Hospital closed in 2008, and the looming closure of Heights University Hospital this month will leave New Jersey\u2019s second-largest city with just one: Jersey City Medical Center, operated by RWJBarnabas Health.<\/p>\n
Patient volume has already increased at Jersey City Medical Center since Heights University was largely shuttered last year. Stacie Newton Hunt, a spokesperson for Jersey City Medical Center, said the hospital continues to invest in its services and infrastructure and is evaluating ways to increase capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cRWJBarnabas Health is, by two times, the state\u2019s largest provider of charity care and of care to beneficiaries of the Medicaid program,\u201d spokesperson Stacie Newton Hunt said. \u201cWe will continue to support the health care needs of all Hudson County residents, as we always have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jersey City Councilman Jake Ephros, who represents the Heights, said his constituents are upset about the closure. He expects people will turn to either Jersey City Medical Center or Hoboken University Hospital. That\u2019s an extra challenge for a working class community where many people are underinsured.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you’re trying to get to either of those places from the Heights, especially when traffic is backed up, it can take you half an hour, 40 minutes,\u201d Ephros said. \u201cIt’s not acceptable as an alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lisa Iachetti, president of Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, said she expects that demand at her hospital will moderately increase when Heights University Hospital closes.<\/p>\n
Hackensack Meridian Health is currently expanding the emergency department at Palisades Medical Center. Iachetti, the hospital\u2019s president, said the new capacity will allow them to meet any increase in demand.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aThat will double the size of the ER occupancy,\u201d Iachetti said of the expansion. \u201cIt’ll be done by the end of December 2026, but the first phase is already open. If we see some additional patients, we’re more than ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Iachetti said the distance from the Heights to North Bergen will probably deter patients in need from going to Palisades Medical Center. White agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI’m sure that’s an option if you really want to drive out there, but I think probably more realistically these patients will go to Jersey City Medical Center,\u201d White said. \u201cAnd if Hudson Regional has anything to say about it, they’ll divert patients to their own sister hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jersey City is less than two weeks away from losing one of its two emergency rooms, leaving hospitals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-504848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}