HPAE Demands Protections for Community, Patients, and Employees in Event of Meadowlands Hospital Sale

The sale of Meadowlands Hospital is continuing, after the state Health Planning Board held a public comment hearing on the transfer of ownership last week. The board will soon makes its recommendations about the sale to the state health commissioner, who will then issue a final decision letter on the sale.

The prospective owner of the for-profit hospital in Seacaucus, NJ is real-estate developer Yan Moshe. Moshe currently owns the Excel Surgery Center in Hackensack, his only health care facility in New Jersey or any other state.

In a letter to the State Health Planning Board, HPAE raised concerns about the state’s review of the sale, pointing out that “the applicant has not submitted the audited financial statements requested in Rounds 1 and 2 of the Completeness Questions posed during the CN review process.  In addition, MHA [the current ownership team] continues to refuse to fulfill the financial disclosure conditions the Department imposed in November 2010, when it issued a Certificate of Need (CN) approving the transfer of the hospital’s license from Liberty Healthcare System to MHA.”

If the Department of Health does allow the sale to proceed, HPAE is urging that the sale agreement include conditions to ensure that the community, patients, and the hospital’s staff, who are represented by HPAE Local 5147, are protected when the new owner takes over.

Click here to read HPAE’s letter to the State Health Planning Board.