A longtime Jersey City medical clinic is short four doctors, being sued for $374,000 in back rent, and its CEO has not yet answered questions from a city councilwoman about their operation.
The Metropolitan Family Network is located at 935 Garfield Ave. in Jersey City, between the downtown and Bergen-Lafayette sections. The health center is funded by federal tax dollars, including health center grants, Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance payments, and state contributions.
The clinic, with an estimated yearly budget of $5 million, serves hundreds of patients every week in Jersey City and nearby towns with adult medicine, pediatrics, and OB/GYN services.
It is known as a federally qualified health center (FQHC). FQHCs are either public entities or private non-profit institutions. They have a board of directors who oversees the head of the clinic.
In 2006, the health center served over 26,000 patients according to information gathered by the New Jersey Primary Care Association.Problems since a year ago
There have been problems at the facility since it was re-incorporated last September.
On Feb. 2, four of the health center’s former doctors left the clinic, resigning a day after the dismissal of a colleague.
Then, on July 27, LibertyHealth Systems filed a lawsuit in State Superior Court claiming that Metropolitan has not paid 11 months of back rent on the 935 Garfield Ave. building of which LibertyHealth is the landlord. LibertyHealth is the parent organization of the Jersey City Medical Center.
Ward F City Councilwoman Viola Richardson recently paid a surprise visit to the health center, located in her ward, to meet CEO Catherine Cuomo-Cecere in person. Richardson said that Cecere did not respond to a letter sent in March requesting a meeting. But on the day of the visit, Richardson was told that Cuomo-Cecere was away at a convention.
Richardson said her mother-in law and brother-in-law were both patients at the health center who had to travel out of town for treatment because they wanted to be treated by the doctors who were no longer there.
“I sent a letter in March to Miss Cecere, and I expect an answer from her as a professional woman,” Richardson said last week. “[Metropolitan] think they don’t have to meet with the elected officials of this city.”
But after last week’s City Council meeting, Richardson said she received a letter from Cecere offering to give a tour of the clinic to Richardson and her City Council colleagues.
Richardson was still skeptical.
“I think she thinks that she can make nice, but it’s not about making nice,” Richardson said. “It’s about answering questions.”
Richardson also said she wants to have the dismissed doctors along whenever the tour takes place. Chairman ‘disappointed’ in CEO
Previously known as the Jersey City Medical Center Family Health Center, a federal mandate required the health center to be no longer under the guidance of the Medical Center as of last year.
The Metropolitan Family Health Network, Inc. was incorporated in May 2006 as a new organization and separated the clinic’s operation from LibertyHealth Care System, the parent organization of the Jersey City Medical Center. Metropolitan also has a location in West New York.
Catherine Cuomo-Cecere was appointed CEO in March, replacing original director Carolyn Holmes.
Cecere responded to a call to her office last week, saying she did not want to talk about Richardson’s visit or the lawsuit. Instead, she preferred to focus on the “positive” things the clinic has done for the community.
“It’s a very customer-friendly environment whereby we have several physicians and excellent staff to help the patients get to a healthy state,” Cecere said.
She did comment on the shortage of doctors, saying she is in the process of hiring a new doctor.
But then, Cecere cut the interview short by saying she had to take a call.
Gustavo Adrianzen, the chairman of the Metropolitan’s Board of Trustees, commented on the doctors, the litigation, and Richardson’s visit to Metropolitan.
Regarding the doctors, Andrenzen said he hopes that some if not all the doctors will return.
He offered “no comment” on the litigation, as it is ongoing.
He also said he was “disappointed” that Cecere had not met with Richardson previously. He said that he told Cecere that she had to meet with Richardson as soon as possible. One doctor returned
The doctor who was dismissed on Feb. 1, leading to his colleagues’ resignations, spoke out in a recent interview. He said he was dismissed in February on the day after he returned from vacation, with no official explanation from management. He had worked at the clinic for 10 years.
That dismissal prompted four of his colleagues, Dr. Nathaniel Barber, Dr. Alita Dizon, Dr. Wagih Wassef, and Dr. Lynne Acierno, to resign the next day.
Acierno eventually returned, so there are now two full-time doctors on staff.
Since then, at least 300 patients and 31 of the health center’s employees have signed petitions demanding the return of the other doctors, including the one who was dismissed.
The doctors earned salaries they said in the “low six figures,” far below what they would earn in private practice according to Dr. Dizon.
Barber said that the doctors are hesitant to return because of the contract offered to the doctors, which he claims has restrictions such as they cannot practice medicine for six months in Hudson County if they are longer employed by the health center.
“I worked there for 20 years full-time without a contract like this, and there were no problems,” Barber said. “I didn’t have a second practice, and I loved working at the clinic.”
According to Dizon and Wassef, they are willing to return if management pulls back the contracts, while Barber and the unnamed doctor have found new work and have become discouraged by what they went through.
But all agree that they will return if Cuomo is no longer at the helm. Meeting regarding rent
LibertyHealth spokesperson John McKeegan said last week there wasn’t “anything scheduled” in terms of a court hearing regarding collection of the back rent.
But two sources close to the clinic said a meeting was scheduled for this past week at the office of state Health Commissioner Dr. Fred Jacobs, where representatives from Metropolitan and the Jersey City Medical Center would sit with Jacobs to come to a settlement.
Jacobs declined to comment last week. Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.