As Hospital Closes In Jersey City, New Owners Say They'll Keep One Department

JERSEY CITY, NJ — A day after the new owners of a hospital in Jersey City announced that they will close the facility, they said they will leave the Emergency Room open. They also answered questions about their plan to close.

Hudson Regional Health CEO Nizar Kifaieh had said Thursday night that the company had submitted a certificate to the state to permanently close the 153-year-old Heights University Hospital due to lack of funding. He also said there would be no money for payroll on Friday.

Hudson Regional Health, which owns a hospital in Secaucus, took over the recently renamed Christ Hospital — as well as hospitals in Hoboken and Bayonne — in September as part of bankruptcy proceedings.

"Unfortunately, despite best efforts by the leadership at Hudson Regional," Kifaieh said Thursday, "it was informed this afternoon that the State will not be providing the critical funding needed to sustain the operations of Heights University Hospital."

On Friday, an HRH spokesperson told Patch that she doesn't believe there will be a chance to resurrect the hospital, despite pleas from officials and others.

"State funding was not available despite broad community support and urging by local officials," said Lisa Herrmann, a spokeswoman, "and [despite] the willingness of Hudson Regional to continue to provide financial support."

Officials said at a press conference on Friday that the company plans to continue operating the Emergency Room, as well as a nearby medical building that they own.

Herrmann said Friday, "HRH will continue to work with local and state officials to figure out how what the next steps are in keeping healthcare in the Heights."

Union Blasts Closure As 'Illegal'

On Friday afternoon, the union representing medical workers called the closure illegal and asked what would happen to patients.

"Hudson Regional Health has surpassed CarePoint as the worst employer in Hudson County," said Debbie White, RN, the president of the health practicioners' union, Friday afternoon. "Hudson Regional has made this decision illegally with no regard for Department of Health regulations or the WARN act [for large-scale layoffs]."

She asked, "What will happen to the patients in this community? Their employees have been left without a paycheck for two weeks of work and without future employment.”

Officials had been concerned for weeks that the new owners, who took over the hospital earlier this year, would close it to build residential housing.

The hospital sits on land with views of the Manhattan skyline.

Hospital representatives told the media on Friday that they will keep open a separate building that provides some medical services.

HRH had already announced in two WARN notices to the state last month that it would lay off 206 workers at the hospital as of this past Sunday. They had also told local officials that if they didn't get millions of dollars in funding, the hospital might suspend some services.

PAST COVERAGE: New Owners Of Jersey City Hospital Threaten To Suspend Services, Officials Furious

But officials and health care workers have argued that HRH new the precarious state of the hospital's finances when the company took it over during bankruptcy proceedings.

Timelines

In August, a judge ruled that Hudson Regional Health, which owns Meadowview Hospital in Secaucus, was allowed to take over Christ Hopsital in Jersey City, as well as Hoboken University Hospital down the hill, and Bayonne Medical Center in that city. All three were in bankruptcy proceedings.

The city of Hoboken had already floated a potential plan to build residences around that hospital in order to keep it financially viable.

“Since the takeover of the CarePoint system and the transition of the system out of bankruptcy, we have been working relentlessly to create
the best possible healthcare system," they said in September. "Despite over $300 million in investments in just 10 months, with a major portion dedicated to the newly renamed Heights University Hospital, it was determined in recent days after a thorough analysis, that the facility is unable to avoid continued financial distress."

Adjacent to the hospital property are CarePoint Pharmacy (CarePoint is the former owner of the hospital), a former nursing school, and other medical buildings. Patch has asked a Hudson Regional Health spokesperson if those properties are also included in their holdings.

PAST COVERAGE: New Owners Of Jersey City Hospital Threaten To Suspend Services, Officials Furious