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Englewood Hospital & Medical Center and RWJBarnabas Health Merger

CORPORATE STRUCTURE

Englewood Health (EH) is the parent to Englewood Hospital & Medical Center (EHMC), Englewood Physician Network, Englewood Health Foundation, Englewood Healthcare Properties, Englewood Medical Associates, Englewood Health Urgent Care, Emergency Physicians of Englewood, Physician Partners of Englewood, Englewood Healthcare Enterprises, and EHMC Health Alliance ACO. Founded in 1890, it is one of the last independent hospitals in New Jersey. On January 5, 2026, it was announced that Englewood and RWJB signed a Definitive Agreement to make Englewood Health part of the RWJB health system.

RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) is one of the largest health care systems in New Jersey. It is comprised of 14 hospitals, 4 children’s hospitals, and almost 200 subsidiary locations in the state providing urgent care, outpatient pediatric care, surgical care, rehabilitation and sports medicine, pharmacies, nursing facilities, imaging, laboratories, day care centers, and its medical school. RWJBarnabas has approximately 45,000 employees, 9,000 physicians, and 1,000 residents and interns at more than 700 patient care locations.

Both health systems are non-profit and therefore subject only to the CHAPA process through the New Jersey Attorney General’s office.

CHAPA PROCESS

When two non-profit health systems announce an intention to merge, they must contact the New Jersey Attorney General’s office and begin the Community Health Assets Protection Act (CHAPA) process. This begins with submission of a Letter of Intent, followed with the AG’s office requesting information and documentation including financial statements, fair value appraisals, board meeting minutes, conflict of interest statements from board members and key employees, any consultant reports, and hierarchy charts. Once the AG’s office is satisfied with the information submitted, it will post an announcement for a public hearing, at which members from the community may speak in favor of or against the proposed merger. The AG’s office writes a recommendation, sending it to the Superior Court, which gives the final approval (or denial) based on the AG’s report.

HIGHLIGHTS: DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT

The Agreement states that RWJB is committed for at least ten years to maintaining Englewood Health & Medical Center (EHMC) as a “…separate legal entity with an independent board of trustees.” The new board will consist of at least four members of the original board and at least two members of the pre-closing board. RWJB also commits to maintaining EHMC as an acute care tertiary hospital indefinitely with all clinical services intact.

EHMC & RWJB Affiliation Agreement

RWJB commits to a $500 million capital commitment to EHMC over a period of ten years, as well as covering all costs required to integrate EHMC and all its affiliates into the RWJB system. This will include IT and aligning all Englewood affiliates with the electronic Epic record keeping system.

The Englewood Foundation, which as of the end of 2025 had $116 million earmarked  specifically for hospital operations as needed, shall remain a separate legal entity with RWJB as the sole member for as long as EHMC remains a separate legal entity. The mission of the EHMC Foundation will maintain EHMC as the sole beneficiary of its funds through charitable purposes.

The Agreement states that there will be no material reduction in staff within the first 18 months of the merger. If there are any reductions in staff after this period, all employees will be offered the opportunity to transfer to another RWJB facility.

Eventual harmonization will occur between Englewood and RWJB for employee benefit programs. All Collective Bargaining Agreements shall continue “…in full force and effect in accordance with its terms.” RWJB agrees that any collective bargaining agreements will be “…subject to negotiations by the parties…” upon expiration of said agreements.

Included in the Agreement is the Strategic Vision and Strategic Plan for the merger. Within that, RWJB commits to the following:

  • Sharing and scaling best practices between Englewood and RWJB, focusing on improving quality and safety metrics
  • Building “upon Englewood’s longstanding commitment to building its nursing workforce”
  • Service line development
  • Primary care alignment
  • Investing in Englewood’s ambulatory care footprint
  • Business intelligence aligning with RWJB affiliates
  • Strengthening Englewood’s digital capabilities
  • Engaging an independent third party to identify potential synergy targets for savings with supply costs, service contracts, etc.
  • Maintaining the Englewood Health Physician Network as a separate entity
  • Integrate Englewood into RWJB’s relationship with Rutgers two medical schools, and nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, allied health professions, public health, and biomedical sciences schools
  • Increasing access to primary and specialty physicians and clinicians
  • Dedicate significant resources to education, research, and health improvement
  • Increase/improve recruitment of leading clinical and academic faculty
  • Increase training opportunities for medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy, and other health professional students

A list of reserved powers for RWJB includes:

  • Make any changes or amendments to the coproration’s bylaws and certificate of incorporation
  • Initiate or approve any merger or consolidation of the Corporation, including liquidation
  • Elect, remove, or approve any corporate trustees as well as corporate officers, including CEO and any members of any Englewood affiliate
  • Initiate or approve any affiliation with a medical school
  • Approve any sale, lease, acquisition, exchange, transfer, conveyance of any lien on or mortgage or other encumbrance on any of the corporation’s real or personal property
  • Initiate or approve any incurrence of debt
  • Direct or require the corporation to take any other lawful acts or actions with respect to the corporation’s business affairs

The initial set of CHAPA questions (73 questions) was sent by the AG’s office to Englewood’s attorneys on January 16, 2026. A response summary will be forthcoming.