The Hoboken City Council approved an emergency resolution asking Hudson County and state leaders to to support CarePoint’s “financial restructuring and long-term stability.”
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The non-binding measure, sponsored by 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher and co-sponsored by Council President Jen Giattino, was read into the record and approved unanimously (9-0) at last night’s meeting.
CarePoint, who owns the Bayonne Medical Center, Hoboken University Medical Center, and Christ Hospital in Jersey City, has begun their financial restructuring process which could result in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as HCV first reported last week.
“I just wanted to … provide a little bit of color, we’re gonna get some updates next week. This hospital system is having financial struggles, having everything to do with the prior owner that just left it with a bunch of debt and massive ground releases,” Fisher said.
“They announced Friday that they’re looking into a restructuring and [WARN] notices that are required by the [New Jersey] Department of Labor were sent out to all employees. But I just wanted to mention that this resolution is for the council to provide unanimous support and really call on our county and state to do as much as possible to stabilize these hospitals.”
She continued that she believes the mayors, county executive, and state Department of Health are already doing everything they can to be helpful and that she is confident they will be able to work through this.
4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos interjected that “the last owners ran it into the ground,” referring to a March 2019 report from the State Commission of Investigation that said the CarePoint owners received $157 million in management fees from the hospitals.
“This is literally in case study in why healthcare should not be privatized, because you just have private owners that just pull as much equity and as much profits out of the system at the expense of people that needs these services,” Fisher added.
Yesterday, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, also a Democratic candidate for governor, appointed himself to the CarePoint board after the city’s representative stepped down.
He has been the most vocal elected leader when it comes to expressing concerns about Christ Hospital and/or the HUMC closing permanently.
“These are times that will impact healthcare delivery in Hudson County for decades to come and knowing how vulnerable Christ Hospital is at the moment, I want to make sure that I’m aware of every detail so that I can make sure that the city does everything it can with CarePoint to guarantee the best outcome,” he told this reporter yesterday.
Fulop played a major role in getting CarePoint and Hudson Regional Hospital to put their differences aside for the greater good, in January announcing a partnership to form Hudson Health System.
However, HRH has since sued CarePoint for not following through on the agreement and that court matter is still pending.
At essentially the same time the HHS concept was announced, the NJDOH indicated they had placed a financial monitor to oversee CarePoint’s hospitals.
instead of spending silly money on uncontested county elections, the county should re deploy funds towards these types of initiatives. The money is out there – just spend it differently.
Indeed, management fees of $157 million are obscene (although this covers an over 10-year period). Also, these hospitals were in rough shape over 10 years ago when the private management company took them over. In any case, Carepoint is now non-profit and the State must intervene and provide assistance.