While calling on the state to keep Heights University Hospital in Jersey City open, the Hudson County Board of Commissioners expressed an interest in forming an investigatory committee at Thursday evening’s meeting.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
The governing body unanimously approved (9-0) a resolution urging Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) and the New Jersey Department of Health to ensure the continued operation and long-term stability of the hospital.
The facility at 176 Palisade Ave., formerly Christ Hospital, was expected to close this weekend, but Hudson Regional Hospital announced late yesterday afternoon their Emergency Department would stay home another two weeks, as HCV first reported.
“We urge the Department of Health to seek an order or judgment in court of competent jurisdiction, directing the appointment of a receiver for the purpose of remedying a condition or conditions in a residential health care facility, assisted living facility, or long-term care facility, that represent a substantial or habitual violation of the standards of health, safety, or resident care adopted by the Department or pursuant to Federal law or regulation,” the resolution states.
According to the resolution, HRH has submitted an application to the NJDOH to close Emergency Department services at the facility as soon as tomorrow.
The hospital is being “taken apart and replaced with luxury housing,” the resolution alleges, and the board is asking Sherrill and Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington and the NJDOH to deny the certificate of need application submitted by HRH.
Shortly after HRH announced they would be staying open until March 14th at 7 p.m., Washington blistered the hospital chain operator, stating in part that HRH “remains out of compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements,” as HCV also first reported.
According to the resolution, HRH should not be allowed to close the community hospital without following proper procedures and taking all required steps to ensure that the services needed remain on site, the resolution contends, continuing that “the integrity and effectiveness of the rule of law demand no less.”
In addition, the resolution calls for an investigation to be held into this matter to hold HRH accountable for their decision to close HUH, stating that the Hudson County community has been harmed by limiting access to medical services without any notice.
The board, via the resolution, criticized HRH’s decision to cease operation by alleging it is a clear violation that should be cause to place the operations of the hospital into receivership.
While the operations of the hospital are placed into receivership, the NJDOH should conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment funded by HRH, the resolution continues.
In addition to denying the certificate of need, the commissioners asked Sherrill, Washington, and the NJDOH to appoint a receiver to operate a fully reopened acute care hospital at the site of Heights University Hospital that provides behavioral health and medical care services.
Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) was the sponsor of the late agenda item, noting it followed a phone call he was on with other elected officials and the hospital operator who indicated the facility would close on Friday.
“In light of the urgency of a call that occurred today with the operator, … we need to send somebody in a car down to the governor’s mansion and drop the resolution off,” he asserted.
“I know there’s a lot of people losing jobs. I think we should be made aware of what that situation is with the unions,” added Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5).
Following the approval of the resolution, O’Dea asked for confirmation with counsel that the board has the power under certain circumstances to create an investigatory committee, which could include subpoena power.
Further, he is looking to meet with Romano and Hudson County Counsel Alberico De Pierro to discuss creating a resolution to form such a committee to investigate the situation at Heights University Hospital before the next commissioners meeting.
“I think the history of what has occurred at that hospital over the last 13 years warrants it. It’s obvious to me that, for over a decade, individuals purposely allowed the hospital to run down, didn’t make capital improvements … we have issues with monies that they owe that they did not pay,” O’Dea declared.
“We had issues with checks that were cashed but not by the people they were supposed to be cashed by. And a pattern of neglect, maybe purposeful neglect, has resulted in the hospital today … We were told on a call earlier this morning that is literally closing tomorrow.”
The veteran commissioner and former Jersey City councilman added that he was told on the call that the Medical Arts Building would be able to provide many medical services, but noted that more than half of the doctors working in that building have already departed.
“That pattern that started many years ago with a real estate deal … continues through today. We’ve had contracts there… There’s money they owe us,” stated O’Dea
He believes the investigatory committee can help bring a new operator into the facility, noting that the current operator HRH didn’t start the problem but they also didn’t adequately address it.
Jersey City resident Norrice Raymaker, who has lived on Palisade Avenue near the hospital for over 30 years, said she has watched as the various owners of the facility have bought up property adjacent to the hospital all up and down the road.
But none of the owners ever did anything with the buildings or land, Raymaker said, like the daycare center across the street.
She continued the facility has been in disrepair for years, highlighting instances she feels like the property owner, Alaris Health CEO Avery Eisenreich continues to be a “bad landlord.”
She said plans have shifted for the site from a 50-story residential building, to 10, 10-story residential buildings with no hospital, but whatever they propose, she argues it will be to their benefit and not the community’s.
“They talk about they need revenue to support the deficits that occur at this hospital. But they have no feasibility study. They have no real architectural study. They’re just taking advantage of people’s need for a hospital,” she concluded.
“They’re bamboozling us … You are dealing with people who have been indicted nine times under the RICO Act. That’s whose in charge of this facility.”
