Community Weighs In On Hospital Sale

Several hundred residents, elected officials and doctors from around Hudson County turned out Thursday to discuss the impending sale of Hoboken University Medical Center.

The meeting at Our Lady Grace Church was the next step in a process to obtain approval for the sale, which would see the hospital transferred from city ownership to private company HUMC Holdco. HUMC is also the owner of Bayonne Medical Center, which the company purchased as it was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2008.

About 200 people gathered in the church's auditorium for a two-hour public meeting meant to outline the process by which the sale would be approved by the state Department of Health. Although opinions differed on details of  the deal, those in attendance seemed to agree that the hospital should be privatized.

Local officials —- including Hudson County Freeholder Anthony Romano, city Councilman Ravi Bhalla and Mayor Dawn Zimmer —- also weighed in on the issue.

"We cannot as a community survive without this hospital being in place from a health-care perspective," said Bhalla, a proponent of the deal.

Zimmer, who is also a commissioner on the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority, said that if the agreement were to fail to go through, "The hospital will be forced to close."

"It's black-and-white," Zimmer said in an interview before the meeting. She added that if the offer on the table doesn't receive approval, there is simply not enough time to find a new bidder. "This took a year," Zimmer said. If waiting for a deal takes any longer, the hospital, she added, won't be able to sustain itself financially.

Hoboken resident and People for Open Government president Alice Crozier, who spoke on Thursday night, questioned whether Holdco truly is the best option.

"We haven’t been told much about any of this process," Crozier said, adding that "(it would be good) if the board can find a way to reopen the question of alternative buyers."

Another bidder whose company was interested in the hospital, Geoff Teed, urged the board on Thursday not to allow the sale to proceed, saying that "our proposal remains on the table."

According to the Asset Purchasing Agreement between HUMC Holdco and the HMHA, HUMC is supposed to keep the hospital open as an acute-care facility for at least seven years. For many members of the community, that isn't long-term enough.

However, interim hospital chief executive Vincent Riccitelli urged the state to allow the sale. Of the eight bidders that expressed interest in buying the center, Riccitelli said, "There was only one bidder who provided proof that they had the resources to keep the promises they made without relying on public monies."

The city of Hoboken is currently backing the hospital with a $52 million bond. If the hospital were to close, the city would have to come up with that money, the mayor said. That would carve $4 million to $5 million a year out of the city's budget. 

Virginia Treacy, president of the nurses' union, expressed her worries about the deal, to the applause of HUMC nurses in the audience.

"We’re not opposed to the sale of this institution," said Treacy. "Our members and the community need each other." Still, Treacy didn't agree with the mayor's position that the hospital will have to close if the deal doesn't go through.

One concern connected to the deal is the question of whether all health-care plans will be adopted by the new owner of the hospital. According to the purchasing agreement, HUMC Holdco has to negotiate with the different providers. The new owners, however, aren't required to carry all the current providers.

Zimmer said the potential buyers expressed willingness to enter into negotiations with the current providers.

Hobokenite Mary Ondrejka, although very much in favor of selling the hospital, was wary of selling the hospital to HUMC Holdco.

"Please don't sell it to someone who's only going to make it condos," she said. If the hospital closes, Ondrejka said, "there will never be a hospital in this town again."