JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND — Jersey City Medical Center, owned by LibertyHealth System, is looking to forge a partnership. “Liberty Health/Jersey City Medical continues to evaluate and explore various strategic and financial partnerships,” said Mark Rabson, corporate director of pulbic affairs, Liberty Health, on Monday, after NJBIZ newspaper broke the story.
“We are in the very early process of exploration,” he said. “The desired outcome would be to locate a strategic partner that shares our culture and mission of enhancing life and thereby enhance the services we provide.”
He told the Jersey City Reporter, “LibertyHealth continues to grow and offer new services. The Board of Trustees and the hospital administration are evaluating all possible avenues that would allow us to expand these programs. We will keep the community informed as we explore the different options.”
The move comes after two other hospitals in the county — Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus (formerly owned by LibertyHealth) and Bayonne Medical Center — were sold to for-profit companies who will be looking to make them profitable while still keep them as hospitals. The city of Hoboken is in the process of selling Hoboken University Medical Center to a private company as well.
While these companies often find ways to save urban hospitals from financial disaster, they also sometimes negotiate hard with insurance companies for better rates on services, which sometimes causes a cancelation of the contract with those insurers and becomes confusing for patients.