Jersey City Medical Center news

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Barnabas Health System seeks to add Jersey City Medical Center
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on May 16, 2013 at 11:00 AM, updated May 16, 2013 at 12:07 PM

The Jersey City Medical Center may soon be a part of the Barnabas Health System, the two entities announced this morning.

The addition should be completed by the fall, after approval by state and federal officials, the entities said in a press release.

“The rapidly changing healthcare landscape presents new challenges and opportunities in healthcare,” said JCMC President/CEO Joseph Scott. “Becoming part of Barnabas Health will give our hospital an opportunity to continue to grow our services and better serve the healthcare needs of this quickly growing community.”

The two entities signed a “definitive agreement” this morning, and they plan to explore new ways to share programs and services.

The Barnabas system includes Clara Maass Medical Center, Saint Barnabas Medical Center and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.

“Jersey City Medical Center is an important addition to the Barnabas Health system,” said Barnabas Health President/CEO Barry H. Ostrowsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, Barnabas Health. “We look forward to welcoming JCMC’s physicians, employees, and volunteers as colleagues in providing exceptional health care services to the residents of New Jersey.” 

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Jersey City Medical Center reportedly in partnership talks with Barnabas Health system
Published: Thursday, October 11, 2012, 7:20 AM
Updated: Thursday, October 11, 2012, 7:22 AM
Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The Jersey City Medical Center is close to announcing a partnership with the Barnabas Health system, according to a report on NJBiz.com.

JCMC spokesman Mark Rabson declined to comment, but NJBiz reported that an “industry expert” said talks between the Jersey City hospital and Barnabas officials are “going well.”

If true, the deal would give the Barnabas system, which runs 10 hospitals, including Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, a presence in Hudson County. Barnabas had owned Kearny’s West Hudson Hospital, which closed in 2004.

JCMC attempted earlier this year to acquire the bankrupt Christ Hospital on Palisade Avenue with a Bloomfield-based healthcare company. The company, which lost its bid to the owners of Bayonne Medical Center and Hoboken University Medical Center, would have owned the facility, while JCMC would have run a portion of it as a nonprofit hospital.

A Barnabas official declined to comment to NJBiz.com on yesterday’s report.

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Jersey City Medical Center receives highest patient-safety score among Hudson County hospitals
Published: Friday, June 08, 2012, 3:00 AM
Celeste Little/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City has received the top score among all hospitals in Hudson County in a survey on safety released this week.

The nonprofit Jersey City hospital was one of just 23 hospitals in the state to receive an “A” in the Hospital Safety Score survey compiled by the Leapfrog Group, which used data from 2010.

“We’re really happy and we’ve been working hard for this. It’s a tribute to all staff and physicians working together,” said Mark Rabson, spokesman for the hospital. “The hospital has four pillars: patient safety, clinical quality, engagement/satisfaction and economic health. Patient safety is first because it’s most important, and the rating reflects that.”

The survey reviewed hospital data in several areas, including infections, falls and trauma, the number of times foreign objects were retained after surgery, and deaths after surgery from serious but treatable complications.

While Leapfrog did not give any hospital a grade lower than “C” in its inaugural report, hospitals that were below a “C” grade were marked “score pending.”

Hoboken University Medical Center, which was recently sold to the same group that owns the Bayonne Medical Center, was one of two hospitals in the state to receive a “score pending” grade.

But according to Phillip S. Schaengold, the score is not reflective of the hard work the new owners of the hospital have been putting in.

“The hospital’s new ownership group has affirmed its commitment to improving HUMC to ensure that it provides the highest level of quality care,” Schaengold said.

“We have already begun to make significant improvements throughout the hospital, including achieving 100 percent compliance with the core measures for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia care.”

Here’s how all of the Hudson County hospitals measured up:

Bayonne Medical Center: C
Christ Hospital, Jersey City: B
Hoboken University Medical Center: Score pending
Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, Secaucus: C
Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen: B

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Door of Jersey City ambulance comes off hinges while patient being taken to hospital
Published: Monday, June 13, 2011, 5:15 AM
Updated: Monday, June 13, 2011, 5:58 AM
The Jersey Journal

The side door of a Jersey City Medical Center ambulance came off its hinges Sunday night while EMTs were transporting a patient to Christ Hospital.

But the door has safety straps and never came off the vehicle, JCMC spokesman Mark Rabson said.

So with the crew and patient strapped in, and with the door secured by the straps, the crew continued on to the Palisade Avenue hospital and delivered the patient, Rabson said.

"No one was in any danger," Rabson stressed.

The 2006 ambulance was immediately taken out of service and the manufacturer will be notified, he said, noting "The ambulance isn't that old."

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Jersey City Medical Center to open Lactation Center
Published: Monday, May 16, 2011, 3:04 PM
Updated: Monday, May 16, 2011, 3:20 PM
By The Jersey Journal

To promote the importance of breastfeeding and to provide new mothers with the kinds of devices that can make breastfeeding easier, more accessible and convenient, the Jersey City Medical Center will host a grand opening of the new Liberty Health Lactation Center @ Jersey City Medical Center on Tuesday, June 7 from noon to 2 pm on the 4th floor reception lobby.

The event will be for the public as well as for area healthcare professionals.

"Our intent with the new lactation center is to remind expectant mothers and the healthcare community of the benefits of breastfeeding for their babies, and to give them access to high quality breastfeeding pumps that we've made available for rental at affordable rates," said April Major, an RN and the breast feeding coordinator at the hospital.

"We've probably doubled our breastfeeding rates at the hospital in the last three or four years, but we still have a long way to go," she added. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that new mothers breastfeed exclusively for about six months, and continue with the addition of complementary foods for at least a year post-partum.

Studies show that it's worth it. Human milk is unique in helping infants to achieve optimal growth and development, hospital officials said. It reduces the likelihood of diabetes, obesity, some childhood cancers and such illnesses and conditions as ear infections, diarrhea, lower respiratory infections, allergies and SIDS, they said.

It also benefits the mother by allowing her to regain her shape more quickly, and reduces certain cancers and the incidence of osteoporosis and hip fractures.

"Anyone that is delivering should breastfeed," said Major. "Our goal is for 75 percent of our mothers to breastfeed and we're hoping by putting the information out there and displaying items that will make the process easier once they leave the hospital, our numbers will continue to increase."

Rentals for breast pumps and other products are available by appointment only at the Lactation Center by calling (201) 521-5900.

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Jersey City Medical Center has nonunion full-timers on 1-day-a-week furloughs until Jan. 21
Thursday, December 09, 2010
By ASHLEY STRAIN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City Medical Center has implemented furlough days for non-union and management employees, citing operating losses in September and October in a memo sent to employees that was obtained by The Jersey Journal.

The furloughs amount to one day a week for full-time employees and one day every two weeks for part-timers between Nov. 22 and Jan. 31, 2011.
 
Roughly 400 employees are being affected by the furloughs, which are expected to save the hospital about $800,000 during the 71-day period, said hospital spokesman Mark Rabson, emphasizing that patient care will not diminish.

"These recent unsatisfactory financial results over the last two months are attributable to several factors," LibertyHealth System President and CEO Joseph Scott, who himself will be furloughed, said in a statement.

"These include growing pains that resulted from our creating new programs, which required the purchasing of new equipment, additional marketing, and the recruiting and training of staff," Scott said.

In the memo sent to employees, Scott encouraged staff members not included in the furloughs to donate 20 percent of their paychecks to the LibertyHealth Foundation while the furloughs are in effect. Their contributions will make a "real difference to" the financial health of the hospital, he said.

"About another 400 employees, nurses and physicians who were not affected by the furloughs signed up to make contributions to the Hospital Foundation," Rabson said. No layoffs are planned at this time, he said.

The Jersey City Medical Center was rated as the No. 1 hospital with under 350 beds in the state by Castle Connolly, a company dedicated to helping consumers find the best health care in America.

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THAT'S HOSPITAL-ITY!
Medical Center offers room service meals
Monday, November 29, 2010
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

It's not the Waldorf-Astoria. But it might be the next best thing if you have to be in a hospital.

The Jersey City Medical Center has introduced room service. Patients can now order breakfast, lunch and dinner from an extensive menu and the food is delivered on china with metal silverware by a bow-tied server.

Dubbed "enhanced dining," the program aims to make dining a little bit more enjoyable for patients.

"We would like to present something to the patients that they can be in control of. Now they can order meals when they want it, how they want it," said Robert Ashe, the hospital's director of food and nutrition.

Following a trial period in the maternity ward, the program was instituted hospital-wide Nov. 3.

When patients get hungry, they call their order in to an operator who looks up the patient's hospital record. If the patient is on a restricted diet, a computer program won't allow the operator to order banned foods. The computer even adds up the calories as the order is punched in.

The food is delivered to the patient in 15 to 40 minutes, Ashe said.

Food service worker Eugene Laforet said the people he serves appreciate the break from standard hospital-food serving practices with the set times and plastic cutlery.

"It's very important for the patient," said Laforet. "Most people, when we go into the room, they say, 'It's really nice.'"

The hospital spent roughly $100,000 to implement the program. Most of the money went toward the new computer system, but some money was used to purchase the china and tuxedo-style uniforms.

Ashe said he expects the hospital to recoup the money within a year since patients are now only served food when they want to eat. The labor costs didn't increase at all, he said.

A sample dinner consisted of roasted chicken, a baked potato, broccoli, and crab cakes. "It's nice," said 20-year-old Teyah Baylor of the upgraded food and service, as she held her one-day-old daughter Tameyah.

"It looks formal, it looks presentable," she added. "I feel like I'm home."

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Hudson hospitals most expensive for certain procedures, report says
By The Jersey Journal
December 13, 2009, 12:11PM

Need heart bypass surgery or treatment for respiratory failure?

Well if you're uninsured or are using an out-of-network provider you may want to stay clear of the Jersey City Medical Center and the Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, according to report by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute.

The Star-Ledger reports today that the study by the prominent health care policy group reveals that New Jersey hospitals are setting prices four times the amount procedures actually cost -- well above the national average of 2.8 times the cost of the procedure. These sticker prices mostly apply to people without insurance and people who are going out-of-network.

Two Hudson hospitals -- both run by LibertyHealth -- have some of the most heart-stopping prices when it comes to certain procedures.

For example, the Jersey City Medical Center's set price for bypass surgery is $304,119, tops in the state. The same procedure at St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic is listed at $83,087, according to the report.

With a sticker price of $445,290, Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center is the hands down leader in the state in charging for treatment for respiratory failure. Treatment for the same ailment at Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May only costs $33,429, the study says.

Back surgery at Meadowlands is virtual bargain however. While Virtua West Hospital in Voorhees charges $130,439 (tops in the state), the price at Meadowlands is a mere $42,028, according to the report.

Hospital and state officials tell The Star-Ledger that the report shouldn't get anyone's blood boiling since very few people pay the listed price for these procedures and if patients can't pay the hospitals are always willing to make a deal.

State Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard discusses a law adopted in February that she says protects middle-class wage earners from being financially gouged by the hospitals.

And the New Jersey Hospital Association argues that only a limited number of patients are charged the listed prices, but those charges help offset the losses hospitals are absorbing on  Medicaid, Medicare and charity care patients.

The study is expected to be available at: http://www.howsyourhealthnj.org

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Community meeting at JCMC tomorrow
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Jersey City Medical Center is hosting its annual meeting for the community tomorrow at 6:30 p.m., in its first floor cafeteria at 355 Grand St.

"This will be an opportunity for people who live and work in the area to get an up close and personal look at what's been a very exciting and productive year at Jersey City Medical Center," said Joseph F. Scott, president and CEO of LibertyHealth, which operates and manages Jersey City Medical Center and Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus.

According to Scott, this year has been a successful one for the hospital, with inpatient admissions, same day surgeries, emergency room visits, and the average daily census having all increased.

Attendees at the community meeting will have the opportunity to enjoy a light dinner, meet members of the Board of Trustees and hospital leaders, and participate interactively following various presentations.

There is no cost to attend the meeting. To register call Anne McGee at (201) 377-6056. For more information, visit http://www.libertyhealth.org.

JOURNAL STAFF

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One way for Liberty Health Systems to bring in some revenue, I suppose:


New building for Jersey City Medical Center
by The Jersey Journal
Tuesday September 23, 2008, 11:39 AM

The Jersey City Medical Center plans to break ground today on a 75,000-square-foot addition that will house doctors' offices, a pharmacy, an imaging center and an ambulatory surgery center.

Landmark Healthcare Facilities LLC is building the $22 million, five-story facility at Grand and Jersey avenues on land leased from LibertyHealth Systems, the Medical Center's parent company. The building will have on-site parking.

There will be office space for 25 physicians in private practice.

The ground breaking is scheduled for noon.

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Hospital cuts trimmed, bites still to be sharp
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The state budget deal reached Monday by Gov. Jon Corzine and legislators will slash aid given to hospitals across the state for dealing with low-income patients by about $93 million.

That cut is $50 million smaller than originally proposed by Corzine, but area hospitals say they will still feel the crunch.

According to an analysis by the New Jersey Hospital Association, the two hardest hit Hudson County hospitals are the Jersey City Medical Center and Hoboken University Medical Center.

JCMC would see its charity care reduced from $83.5 million in the 2008 fiscal year to $45.6 million in 2009, while aid for HUMC would be cut from $16.4 million to $13.9 million.

About 60 percent of JCMC's patients require charity care or Medicaid.

The numbers will not be final until the state Senate and Assembly budget committees approve the budget and it is passed by both houses, which is expected by early next week.

By law, the state must adopt its budget before the end of the month.

John McKeegan, a spokesman for LibertyHealth Systems Inc., which operates JCMC - as well as Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus and recently closed Greenville Hospital in Jersey City - said it's too soon to say what the impact will be on the hospital.

LHS President Joseph F. Scott said last month that the state's cuts could threaten the jobs of 600 employees, about 20 percent of the company's work force, along with some services.

However, JCMC should be helped by a new $44 million "hospital stabilization fund" for the state's neediest hospitals, according to Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, a spokeswoman for Hoboken University Medical Center who also sits on the Assembly budget committee.

The fund is set to be created through special legislation later this week.

Quigley also said HUMC won approval last week from the state Local Finance Board to refinance $52 million in bonds.

That will help the hospital absorb its $2.5 million charity care cut, she said. In addition, updated numbers from 2007 show an increase in low-income patients at HUMC, which boosts its share of subsidies under the state formula, Quigley said.

"It still means we have to tighten our belts, like every other hospital in the state," she said

She added that legislators rejected Corzine's suggestion to make Medicaid patients responsible for co-payments of up to $5 on prescriptions and emergency care.

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Jersey City Med Center officials: If state makes $42 million cut, then we'll have to cut, too
Saturday, May 31, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

In human terms, the Jersey City Medical Center is the driver of a Honda staring at the Mack truck he's about to collide with.

The Mack truck is the 50 percent cut in state charity care aid slated for the hospital in Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed $33 billion budget.

The cut would reduce the JCMC's charity care assistance - money that helps pay for patients who can't pay for themselves - from $83.5 million to $41.6 million, the biggest reduction in the state, and could mean significant layoffs and cutbacks in medical services.

There's still time to avoid catastrophe - and will be until Corzine and the legislators finalize the budget by June 30.

But a serious dent in the medical services offered at Hudson County's largest hospital seems unavoidable.

"This kind of cut will have serious consequences," said Joseph F. Scott, president and CEO of LibertyHealth Systems Inc., which operates JCMC, Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus and ran the recently shuttered Greenville Hospital in Jersey City.

"We have a little over 3,100 employees (at JCMC and Meadowlands)," Scott said. "We would have to look at letting go 600 employees if this cut went through. That is about 20 percent of our workforce."

JCMC would maintain "the same kind of care," Scott said, but added he'd have to "strategically" scale back.

"We provide a wound care clinic at 115 Christopher Columbus Drive. We provide ophthalmology services. We provide OB-GYN services. All of them are at risk given these kind of cuts," Scott said. "We could lose our (Level II) trauma center."

Charity care aid - which reimburses the hospital roughly 50 cents on the dollar - is critically important to JCMC since 60 percent of its patients are either charity care or use Medicaid.

The hospital has the second biggest charity care patient load in the state - ahead of University Hospital in Newark, which ranks third, and just behind Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, which serves the largest percentage of charity care patients, according to state records.

The proposed $41.9 million cut for JCMC would represent a 15 percent gash in LibertyHealth's $277 million operating budget - a cut Scott said he's working closely with state officials to avoid.

State Department of Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Donna Leusner emphasized that final charity care numbers haven't been set.

She noted that for several years JCMC has received "supplemental aid" grants, amounting to $34 million in the current fiscal year.

The hospital's "documented charity care" aid is $43 million, Leusner said. The health department's charity care formula calls for cutting 5 percent from hospitals with an 8 percent or higher charity care patient load.

Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, D-Jersey City, a member of the budget and health committees who also works at Hoboken University Medical Center, said legislators are negotiating with Corzine to create a $50 million "hospital stabilization fund" that could send more money JCMC's way.

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Hudson's other hosps are also taking hit
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Newhouse News Service

The Jersey City Medical Center might be the biggest target of proposed cuts in state charity care aid, but it would hardly be Hudson County's only casualty if the reductions go through.

Hoboken University Medical Center is slated to lose nearly $4 million, while Bayonne Medical Center and Christ Hospital in Jersey County could each see a roughly $650,000 cut, hospital officials said.

"It's a cut we have to cope with. It's a question at what price," said Peter Kelly, president and CEO of Christ Hospital.

Joan Quigley, a state assemblywoman and spokeswoman for HUMC, said the Hoboken Hospital Authority, the entity that runs HUMC, plans to refinance $52 million in bonds to cope with the cuts, which will delay when payments come due.

The idea, she said, is to hang on until a new emergency room opens in August next year that the hospital expects will increase its patient load.

"While we would prefer not to have this cut, when we look at other institutions, we feel it is something we can manage," said Daniel Kane, president and CEO of Bayonne Medical Center, which is slated to receive $3.3 million, down from this year's roughly $4 million.

Twenty-two hospitals in the state would see their charity care aid wiped out entirely, according to an analysis by the New Jersey Hospital Association.

KEN THORBOURNE contributed to this story.

© 2008  The Jersey Journal

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