Thursday, January 26, 2012

Breaking news - JCMC makes offer for Christ Hosp

Jersey Journal: Jersey City Medical Center offers to buy nearby Christ Hospital for $104 million.

From the article:
The JCMC, which is partnering with Community Healthcare Associates in the bid, would keep Christ Hospital as a non-profit acute care facility for at least 30 years and maintain the existing unions, according to a statement released this morning.

"In a letter of intent that was delivered to Christ Hospital President and CEO Peter Kelly, we set forth our vision for the future of the facility and its critical role in providing healthcare services for Hudson County,'' JCMC President and CEO Joseph Scott writes in the statement. "The proposal lays out four tenets: to continue operating Christ as a non-profit acute care community hospital for a period of not less than 30 years; to preserve and create jobs while maintaining the existing unions; to continue to build a positive working relationship with the medical staff; and to expand Christ’s role as a healthcare leader and educator in Jersey City, Hudson County and New Jersey.''

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The LibertyHealth offer also includes bridge financing to ensure that Christ Hospital does not need to enter bankruptcy in order to reorganize.

This offer opens up the possibilities quite a bit. Save Christ Hospital has arranged meetings with both Bayonne/Hoboken Holdco and LibertyHealth to better understand their bids and advocate for Christ Hospital's historic mission of quality healthcare accessible to the whole community.
 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Save Christ Hospital forms Community Oversight Board

Jersey City, NJ, January 24, 2012 - Christ Hospital’s plan to abandon its charitable mission and sell the hospital to a for-profit corporation calls for substantial community involvement and oversight. Save Christ Hospital has drawn together 14 community organizations and formed a community board to represent ordinary residents of Hudson County in the plans to sell this important community asset.

139 years ago, the Episcopal Church founded Christ Hospital to serve the critical medical needs of the north Hudson community. The City of Jersey City, Hudson County, and the State of New Jersey have invested in that mission, providing direct financial support and forgiving taxes on the hospital’s real estate and business operations. As a not-for-profit institution, Christ Hospital’s duty has been to put its patients and its community first, and reinvest any surplus into its mission.

Save Christ Hospital calls for:
  1. An open, transparent review process with substantial and meaningful public participation;
  2. A community needs assessment to determine essential services that must be provided;
  3. A formal bid process that state government, local government, and the public can see prior to any sale; and
  4. That any sale fully meet the CHAPA standard of no negative impact on the public interest, and that the state impose strong conditions to ensure:
  5. - continued access to all existing healthcare services for at least 10 years,
    - quality health care and health care outcomes,
    - access to services for the uninsured,
    - protection of existing staffing levels and workplace rights for employees, and
    - the use and governance of this important non-profit community asset based on community need.
Save Christ Hospital will work with Governor Christie, the Attorney General, and the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services to safeguard the public interest as required by the Community Health Care Assets Protection Act (CHAPA), and with the Hospital and potential buyers to help preserve the hospital’s and its historic mission of quality healthcare accessible to the whole community.

See the Hudson Reporter article, "Jersey City neighborhood associations form 'community oversight board' to monitor Christ Hospital sale."