Public Invited to Discuss Hoboken Hospital Sale

Hoboken residents are invited to weigh in on the discussion about the sale of the Hoboken Medical Center on Thursday July 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. 

The public hearing is necessary before a certificate of need (or CN) can be approved, in order to transfer ownership of the Hoboken University Medical Center from the city's hands to those of . 

Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who is a commissioner on the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority, has been pushing the deal, saying that this is the only way to save the hospital.

“This hearing will give the State Health Planning Board members a chance to hear directly from our residents that HUMC is essential to their families," Zimmer said in a statement. "Our hospital cannot survive as a publicly-owned stand-alone community facility. If the sale to HUMC Holdco doesn’t go through, our hospital will close."

HUMC Holdco's proposal was chosen from eight bidders. That process, however, . The specifics as to why HUMC Holdco was chosen over other proposals has not become completely clear. 

Zimmer, in a previous interview, said that HUMC Holdco fulfilled all requirements set forth by the Authority in the Request for Proposal. Among them, Zimmer said, is that HUMC Holdco has the financing in place to take over the city's $52 million debt it currently has on the hospital. 

HUMC Holdco, also the owners of the medical center in Bayonne, sold that hospital after purchasing it, and is currently leasing back the facility, causing some to worry about the buyer's intentions. Both Zimmer and HMHA Chairwoman Toni Tomarazzo have called that a financing mechanism, unrelated to the company's intentions with Hoboken's hospital.

"This transaction will save our hospital and lead to long-term benefits for our residents," Zimmer said in the same statement. 

HUMC Holdco is guaranteeing to keep the hospital open for at least seven years. Critics of the deal have said that that is not "long term" enough. 

Another worry from employees and members of the public, surround the different types of health care options the Hoboken Medical Center will accept post sale.

According to an article in the Hudson Reporter it is not certain that HUMC Holdco will take over all the existing health care contracts. According to that same article the buyer "has no intentions of assuming any of the existing managed care agreements. Their reimbursement rates are below industry standards and are not adequate to sustain the operations at HUMC."

JNESO, a professional health care union that represents the nurses of the HUMC, recently sent out a release stating that the union doesn't oppose the sale of the hospital, but is looking for more information on the deal.

"We have made it very clear that our objective is not to stop the deal but rather to have a public review of the deal," the statement read. But, "threatening to close the hospital is not helpful."

The meeting will be held at Our Lady of Grace Parish Hall, 422 Willow Avenue at 6 p.m. on July 21.