The New Jersey Department of Health’s certificate of need hearing at Heights University Hospital, which closed on March 14th, will be held down the road at Dickinson High School after facility owner Hudson Regional Health refused to participate.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“HRH has not engaged the city about relocating Christ Hospital or any other serious alternative proposal for the facility,” Jersey City spokesman Nathaniel Styer said in an email this morning.
“Mayor [James] Solomon will be testifying at tonight’s community hearing, hosted by the New Jersey Department of Health, about the need for high-quality, reliable healthcare facilities in the Heights run by partners who see residents as patients, not profits.”
His remarks came in response to counsel for Hudson Regional Health writing a letter to the NJDOH Certificate of Need and Healthcare Facility Licensure Program on Monday stating that they were withdrawing their certificate of need application, as HCV first reported.
While HRH thought this would effectively cancel tonight’s State Health Planning Board meeting since it’s part of the CN process, but the NJDOH has updated their website to indicate that the new location is a Dickinson High School, located at 2 Palisade Ave.
The meeting is set for approximately two hours, 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., with a virtual option available and public comment limited to two minutes per person.
The aforementioned letter also claimed that HRH was in negotiations with both the City of Jersey City and HUH property owner Avery Eisenreich, the Alaris Health founder, regarding the construction of a new facility, which Styer said was false.
After closing everything but the HUH emergency department in November, HRH announced that they were closing entirely last month, citing $104 million in losses since acquiring the hospital from CarePoint Health via a bankruptcy proceeding one year ago.
The NJDOH did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment as of early Wednesday afternoon.
Editor’s note: News correspondent Dan Israel contributed to this report.
