Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro (D-33) says the concerns raised about the Hoboken University Medical Center’s finances in a letter from the New Jersey Department of Health last week was “an early warning so we can get ahead of it.”
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“I read the letter from the Department of Health dated October 20, 2023, its purpose was to give us an early warning so we can get ahead of it. Every paragraph mentions Charity Care, this tells me that CarePoint is serving communities in need and I hope this means that the Department of Health and Governor Murphy will make sure they are able to continue to serve them,” she said today.
“Let’s not forget how CarePoint’s nurses, doctors and staff were with the City and surrounding cities during COVID. We need our hospitals to thrive and serve. Last month, I became a member of the Board of Directors at Hoboken CarePoint. I will do all I can to make sure our wonderful Hospital staff members continue to do what they love – taking care of our communities when they are most vulnerable and in need.”
New Jersey Deputy Health Commissioner Robin Ford said in the aforementioned October 20th letter that based on the NJDOH’s Early Warning System (EWS), the HUMC is in financial distress or at risk of being in financial distress, as HCV first reported.
“At a high level, CarePoint’s HUMC is considered to be of ‘high concern’ with respect to financial distress … HUMC, consistent with CarePoint’s other two hospitals,” she wrote.
Ford also mentioned that CarePoint’s cash on hand has been “consistently low” for about a year, their operating margins are negative and have declined in the past year (down about 14.14 percent), and their days in accounts receivable remain high (average of 174.18 days).
In response, CarePoint spokesman Phil Swibinski that the hospital system, which also runs the Bayonne Medical Center and Christ Hospital in Jersey City, incurs “hundreds of millions of dollars” in costs for “uncompensated and undercompensated care.”
As a result, significant new funding is needed to keep providing charity care to upwards of 50,000 uninsured patients a year.
In January, CarePoint Health and the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority settled a lawsuit filed in February 2022 that alleged the board shared confidential information and went beyond the scope of their authority, as HCV first reported.
The letter from Ford was addressed to Mayor Ravi Bhalla, Business Administrator Jason Freeman, City Clerk Jimmy Farina, and the members of the 33rd Legislative District that includes Hoboken: state Senator Brian Stack, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, and Chaparro.
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Think of the tax retables.