CarePoint Health transferred their hospitals to a new non-profit headed by their CEO, a move that they hope will pave the way for BMC Hospital LLC to purchase the majority share of the Bayonne Medical Center.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Initially announced in October, the non-profit is led by CarePoint CEO Achintya Moulick and is made possible by principal owner Vivek Garipalli donating his majority interest in Christ Hospital in Jersey City, the Hoboken University Medical Center, and Bayonne Medical Center.
“I’m honored to be leaving the healthcare system in the hands of a physician leader and diverse management team greatly experienced in working with our minority patient population,” Garipalli said in a statement.
“While this donation is the official end to my ownership of CarePoint Health, I look forward to cheering from the sidelines as the newly formed non-profit continues to care for, sustain, and grow the hospital system to provide equitable care in Hudson County for many years to come.”
BMC Hospital LLC was expected to gain 39.1 percent ownership of the Bayonne Medical Center at a State Health Planning Board hearing last month, but it was postponed with CarePoint’s application to convert to a nonprofit still pending.
BMC Hospital LLC previously acquired 9.9 percent ownership of the Bayonne Medical Center in November 2020.
“This transition will allow our teams to continue to provide advanced and equitable care to the diverse, minority populations across the Hudson County community,” added Moulik.
“Through the number of partnerships and initiatives over the last two years, we have built an advanced healthcare system as a leader and innovator in medicine with much more to come.”
Secaucus-based Hudson Regional Hospital, who has been fighting BMC Hospital to take over the CarePoint facilities for the past two years – as well as owning the hospital land in Bayonne and Hoboken – lambasted today’s announcement this afternoon.
“Today’s victory lap announcement by CarePoint is puzzling, and potentially unlawful because the Department of Health has previously stated that a transfer of the CarePoint ownership interest to a non-profit would require certificate of need approval, and no such approval has been announced,” their statement says.
“Further, we own the Bayonne Medical Center property and facility and are CarePoint’s landlord. The Lease requires CarePoint to obtain our permission to change the controlling interest in the tenant, which they did not even bother to request, and thus has not been granted. All today’s announcement accomplishes is to spawn more legal disputes and regulatory entanglements.”
HRH continued that CarePoint is still in court for defaulting on their lease in Bayonne, also noting that a 2019 report from the New Jersey Commission of Investigation said that CarePoint’s owners received $157 million in management fees from their Hudson hospitals.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with a comment from Hudson Regional Hospital.
