This month\u2019s shuttering of Heights University Hospital left New Jersey\u2019s second-largest city with just one emergency room, sparking community outcry as local leaders weigh their legal options.<\/p>\n
As Jersey City grapples with the loss of the hospital, the fallout from its sudden closure may spur new laws in Trenton.<\/p>\n
State Sen. Raj Mukherji, one of the Democrats representing Jersey City, told Gothamist he is drafting a new bill to increase fines against hospital operators that close facilities without getting the state\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n
He also said he wants a new legal mechanism that would allow state authorities to take over hospital operations through receivership if the operator is found to be breaking the law.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Hudson Regional Health] decided to disregard existing rules, and basically the fines are cheaper than continuing to maintain hospital services or emergency department services until they could abide the closure process that’s already in place,\u201d Mukherji said. \u201cSo if the existing penalties are not enough to get folks to comply with the law. We’re going to work with the administration to add tools to their toolkit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mukherji said he\u2019s working with Gov. Mikie Sherrill\u2019s office to write the bill. Steve Sigmund, a spokesperson for Sherrill, said in a statement after Heights University Hospital\u2019s closure that \u201cthe governor will be pursuing legislation to give the state more tools to hold health care facilities accountable to the patients and communities they serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill likely wouldn\u2019t directly affect the closure of Hudson Regional Hospital, which was recently known as Christ Hospital and a fixture in the community for more than 150 years. Local leaders pledged to use every legal avenue at their disposal to prevent the closure, but ultimately failed to get a last-minute injunction to head it off.<\/p>\n
The hospital wound down services last year and shut its ER on March 14. City leaders are now exploring the use of eminent domain to reopen it.<\/p>\n
Current state law requires a hospital operator to obtain a certificate of need from the state before closing a hospital \u2014 demonstrating that the surrounding community can still be adequately served by other health facilities \u2014 with a $7,500 application fee to the state Department of Health.<\/p>\n
Once the application is complete, the State Health Planning Board holds a public hearing to gain community feedback. The health department sends a recommendation whether to approve the certificate to the board, which in turn makes a recommendation to the state health commissioner, who has the final say.<\/p>\n
Even if a closure is approved, the commissioner can include conditions like a requirement for services to be offered at a location nearby.<\/p>\n
Hudson Regional Health submitted its application last year for a certificate of need<\/a> to close Heights University Hospital. That application still had not been deemed complete as of March 6, when the state health department asked the operator to provide more information.<\/p>\n The health department did not respond to a request for comment. State leaders have said Hudson Regional Health is facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines for being out of compliance with state law, but the exact amount is unclear. The Jersey City Times reported<\/a> the health department levied a $128,000 fine in January.<\/p>\n Hudson Regional Health has said Heights University Hospital, which it acquired last fall, lost $74 million last year and was projected to lose $30 million this year. The company has also said it sought financial aid from the state and city to keep the hospital open, but that help was never offered.<\/p>\n Vijay Chaudhuri, a spokesperson for Hudson Regional Health, said the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into its health system, which also includes hospitals in Bayonne, Hoboken and Secaucus. He said the financial challenges of keeping Heights University Hospital open were insurmountable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe State would be far better served focusing its efforts on allocating and providing long-term healthcare funding to hospitals that serve underserved populations \u2014 funding that HRH had been requesting for many months but that never materialized,\u201d Chaudhuri said.<\/p>\n