Hoboken University Medical Center and – separately – St. Joseph’s Regional Children’s Hospital Pediatric Center, a new facility for women and children, officially celebrated their grand openings on Thursday in Hoboken, marking an impromptu afternoon of health care recognition in the mile-square city. (See sidebar.)
On Thursday afternoon, Acting Gov. Kim Guadagno, State Commissioner of Health Mary O’Dowd, Mayor Dawn Zimmer, former Mayor David Roberts, and HUMC Chief Executive Officer Phil Schaengold joined city representatives in officially opening Hoboken’s only hospital under its new ownership group. It was already public knowledge that HUMC was recently sold to a private company that also co-owns Bayonne Medical Center, but the new owners had not yet held an official event to make announcements.
“It’s like having a children’s hospital in your own backyard.” – William McDonald
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Guadagno and the administration of Gov. Chris Christie played a vital role in seeing that the sale went through, as the state pledged up to $16 million to help ease the sale process to new owners HUMC Holdco.
Zimmer hosted the ribbon cutting. She thanked the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority, a municipal board who sold the hospital, of which she is a member, and the Christie Administration, among others.
“Through [Christie’s] decisive action, 1,200 jobs were saved,” Zimmer said. “On behalf of the city of Hoboken, it is my distinct honor to thank the entire Christie administration for their support of Hoboken University Medical Center.”
Zimmer has said that if the sale did not go through to HUMC Holdco, the hospital would have be forced to close since it was running out of funds.
Christie was out of town last week.
“Of the many activities that the governor had to miss while he is out of state, this is the most important to him,” Guadagno said.
Political implications
Zimmer has sometimes been criticized for her friendliness with Christie, a Republican.
“Any time the governor can stand by a mayor who is brave enough to do things that are not necessarily politically popular but are the right thing to do for her city, we will be there to stand by that mayor,” Guadagno said.
Former Mayor David Roberts had helped save the hospital in 2008 by having the city guarantee $52 million in bonds to keep it open. But some residents were concerned that if the hospital failed, the taxpayers would be responsible for that amount. When Zimmer took office, her aim was to find private buyers to run it as a hospital.
On Thursday, Roberts thanked Zimmer for inviting him to the ceremony and commended her for selling the hospital.
“She offered leadership under the most adversarial conditions,” Roberts said.
Zimmer was criticized by her council opponents during the sale process. They said the process was not transparent enough.
“In this instance, there were far fewer people pulling together,” Roberts noted.
Not everything will stay the same for the new facility. Holdco says they will make many improvements. But they are also renegotiating reimbursement rates from health insurance companies, and as a result, the hospital is not in-network right now with many insurers. That means that patients may have to pay higher rates if they use HUMC.
The hospital is still in-network with Blue Cross, Medicare, and Medicaid.
HUMC is the state’s oldest hospital, first opening its doors in 1863.
What about consolidation?
The state released a consolidation report for Hudson County hospitals prior to the sale of the facility earlier this year. The purpose of the report was to guide healthcare facilities in identifying areas of treatment that can be consolidated in Hudson County, as the state had already spent millions of dollars in the area to keep facilities open.
But two of the three hospitals studied as part of the report (HUMC and Christ Hospital in Jersey City) are now being sold to for-profit companies, and will not need stabilization funds. Therefore, they do not need to follow the requirements of the report.
After the press conference, O’Dowd said in an interview that she still believes the report is relevant.
“It is a valuable tool that the hospitals in this community can use independently for their planning in the future,” O’Dowd said. However, the state will not be able to hold the hospitals to using the recommendations.
Ray Smith may be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com
SIDEBAR
Uptown children’s facility dedicated
On Thursday evening, the St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Pediatric Care Center and Women’s Health Center officially opened at 158 14th St.
The facility is a satellite campus of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson.
The hospital is designed to help children and women with specialized care.
William McDonald is the president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Healthcare System.
“When children need care, they don’t have to leave their hometown,” McDonald said. “It’s like having a children’s hospital in your own backyard.”
The pediatricians at the facility are subspecialists in different fields of children’s and women’s healthcare.
Michael Lamacchia, M.D., is the chairman of the department of pediatrics.
Lamacchia said the hospital has had an impact in the city of Hoboken for the past 15 years, and up until recently had an office at HUMC. Now, they’ve decided to open their own facility.
Derrick Johnson, the director of ambulatory pediatrics, said Hoboken is a great location for the business because there are “tons of kids” who would benefit from having a children’s care hospital in Hoboken.