PULLING PLUG ON GREENVILLE HOSPITAL

Saturday, April 28, 2007
By JASON FINK
Journal staff writer

LibertyHealth officials yesterday announced plans to end all acute care at Greenville Hospital as part of package of money-saving maneuvers the company is making, including elimination of inpatient and intensive care pediatric services at the Jersey City Medical Center.

The changes, approved unanimously Thursday night by the board of trustees of LibertyHealth - which owns both hospitals - follow the recommendations of Chicago-based Wellspring Partners, a consulting firm brought in to help cut costs.

In an interview yesterday, LibertyHealth officials said they don't expect to lay off any of Greenville's 250 employees, but many will be transferred to the Medical Center. Greenville will likely remain open for inpatient psychiatric services, detox programs and outpatient dialysis, they said.

But acute care - treatment that requires patients to be held in the hospital - will end in six to nine months and the emergency room will be closed in 12 to 18 months, they said.

"Greenville was on the state closure list 10 years ago, 15 years ago," said Brett Harwood, chairman of the LibertyHealth board. "Greenville has been kept over as a loss leader as part of a community effort, and we can't afford to do it anymore."

Board officials, as well as acting CEO and President Stephen Kirby, informed the staff, as well as Mayor Jerramiah Healy, of the decision yesterday at around 8 a.m.

"The doctors were very upset," said Kirby.

Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano, who represents Greenville, said he was upset to hear the emergency room will close.

"Obviously, I'm not happy that day-to-day service is being removed," Sottolano said. "If something happens in Greenville, to transport them Downtown, where there may be an overflow of patients, there's going to be a time issue."

Healy's spokeswoman, Maria Pignataro, said the mayor understands the plan is due to fiscal constraints and expressed hope the Medical Center and Christ Hospital could absorb the patients.

State Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, D-Jersey City, reacted with surprise when informed of the proposed changes.

"I think if I lived in the southern part of the city I would be concerned," said Quigley, who also serves as a spokeswoman for Hoboken University Medical Center.

"Managerially, it's the right decision, but I'm not sure it's the right decision for the people of Hudson County," she added.

Ending acute care at Greenville and the elimination of pediatric services at the Medical Center will save $7 to $8 million a year, officials said.

LibertyHealth has also realized about $22 to $24 million in savings from changing vendors, a hiring freeze, switching insurance providers and streamlining its business, they said.

It received about $34 million from the state this year and is relying on the same amount next year.

The 100-bed Greenville Hospital has about 50 patients on any given day, LibertyHealth officials said.

Macon Lincoln, 57, a Duncan Avenue resident who said he has been a patient at Greenville Hospital before, was not happy to hear the news.

"I think they should let it stay how it is," Lincoln said yesterday. "The hospital is closer, and suppose someone really desperate for care has to go farther, what would happen then?"

Ramon Luna contributed to this report.

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Charity care squeeze is 'statewide' problem
Saturday, April 28, 2007
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The financial strife faced by LibertyHealth is par for the course for urban acute-care networks across the state, where more than half the hospitals are losing money, administrators say.

"This isn't a Jersey City Medical Center issue," said Stephen Kirby, president and CEO of LibertyHealth, the parent company of the Medical Center and Greenville Hospital. "This is a statewide hospital issue."

But there is no doubt that urban Hudson County hospitals are hurting more than most.

LibertyHealth officials said 65 percent of patients the Jersey City Medical Center treats are Medicaid patients and uninsured charity cases - many of whom show up at emergency rooms, where hospitals are obligated to treat them.

John McKeegan, a spokesman for LibertyHealth, said the Medical Center is reimbursed around 70 percent of the actual cost of treating Medicaid patients and 65 percent for charity care patients.

The hospital has yet to benefit from the recent influx of more affluent residents to Downtown Jersey City because many are loyal to doctors and hospitals in the towns and cities where they moved from, officials said.

"We take in everybody who walks in," said Brett Harwood, chairman of the LibertyHealth Board of Trustees. "But we don't get our share of people relatively well-off who can pay."

Changing technology has led to shorter hospital stays, reducing the need for hospital beds - leading some to say that Hudson County is facing a glut of hospital beds. And hospitals are facing increased competition from outpatient medical clinics with lower overheads.

At the same time, costs continue to spiral, including keeping up with evolving technology such as the latest patented medicines and cutting-edge diagnostic equipment. Yet, giant HMOs use their considerable buying power to negotiate steep discounts with their network hospitals, officials said.

"Their share is skyrocketing at the expense of hospitals," Kirby said.

Those in the managed care industry say they have a duty to their customers to negotiate lower reimbursement rates, saying that it is rising costs at hospitals that are making premiums unaffordable.

The Medical Center recently ended its contract with the Horizon Blue Cross Shield of New Jersey, saying the reimbursements do not come close to covering the cost of providing care.

Horizon challenged this, saying the hospital had requested a 95 percent increase in reimbursement rates.