Monmouth Medical Center Gets Final Clearance To Move To Tinton Falls

LONG BRANCH, NJ — On Thursday, the New Jersey Department of Health gave final approval for Monmouth Medical Center (MCC) to leave the campus it's had in Long Branch for more than 100 years and relocate to Tinton Falls.

The new Monmouth Medical Center in Tinton Falls will not open until 2032. It will be called the Vogel Medical Campus and will be located in the area of Pearl Harbor Avenue and Corregidor Road, on the former Fort Monmouth. However, a cancer center currently under construction next door will open much earlier, possibly even by the end of 2026.

Meanwhile, Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ6), who is zealously against the hospital leaving Long Branch, brokered a deal:

Pallone's proposed legislation — which has not yet passed in Trenton — would set up a pilot program where RWJBarnabas Health would be required to operate acute-care hospital services in Long Branch for at least 10 years after MMC relocates to Tinton Falls.

As a condition of him approving the relocation, acting New Jersey Health Commissioner Jeffrey Brown also required that an ER and outpatient surgery services remain in Long Branch indefinitely. The state would also require RWJ to keep operating rooms for major surgery in Long Branch.

Under the proposed pilot, RWJ would be required to keep 48 hospital beds in Long Branch, and at least 12 of those hospital beds must have the ability to be used for intensive care. Any future New Jersey Health Commissioner has the ability to extend the pilot program longer.

The deal Pallone brokered makes it very difficult for RWJBarnabas to sell its former MMC campus in Long Branch to a developer.

And RWJ's archrival Hackensack Meridian Health said they are still opposed to MMC relocating to Tinton Falls, despite the conditions of Pallone's deal. Their hospitals on the Jersey Shore, most specifically Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, will be inundated with patients, they said.

"The New Jersey Department of Health’s approval does not alleviate Hackensack Meridian Health’s concerns about the impact on patient access, emergency response times and the region’s hospital capacity," Hackensack said in a statement late Thursday night. "The Department of Health's conditions ... do not address all of our concerns and still do not replace the value of having a full-service hospital ... Hackensack Meridian Health will continue to pursue all available avenues to make sure Long Branch, Neptune and the broader Monmouth County community have reliable access to vital care."

Monmouth Medical Center CEO Eric Carney said he was very happy to get the state's approval. Outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, wrapping up his final two weeks in office, has always backed the relocation.

“This decision clears the way for a new, state-of-the-art, acute-care hospital in Tinton Falls and much-needed improvements to our existing site in Long Branch," Carney said this week. "We expect to move into the design phase in the coming months with the goal of completing construction and opening the new hospital in 2032."

Most recent report on this topic: State Health Board Approves Monmouth Medical Center Leaving Long Branch, Relocating To Tinton Falls (Dec. 18, 2025)

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