The area’s basic headlines 24 hours after the meeting read, ‘Hackensack University Medical Center, another step closer to reopening a community hospital.’ The State Health Planning Board (SHPB) voted 5-1 at the Nov. 29 meeting, recommending Commissioner Mary O’Dowd approve HUMC’s Certificate of Need (CN) application, in combination with the DOH staff report’s 13 recommendations. TO READ MORE, click here
December 12, 2011
November 15, 2011
The Final Step
On Nov. 29 the State’s Health Planning Board will hold its 2nd and final meeting at 9:30 AM in the East Windsor at the Holiday Inn National Conference Center, located at 399 Monmouth St. Final comments will be heard as to whether or not a new 128-bed hospital should reopen at the Pascack Valley Hospital (PVH) site in Westwood. TO READ MORE, click here
October 16, 2011
Certificate of Need, Public Hearing – Oct. 19th
The Department of Health Planning Board will hold a public hearing Wednesday, October 19th in the auditorium at Westwood Regional High School in Washington Township. Its purpose will be to hear testimony from the public as to whether a hospital of any sort is needed in Westwood. It’s a procedural activity in the Certificate of Need (CN) process. It IS NOT an assurance of any affirmative decision. TO READ MORE, click here
June 22, 2011
Is Healthcare Need Individual or Business?
To the average person ‘need’ refers to a condition or situation requiring some thing or relief in order to meet a specific necessity. Valley Hospital and Englewood Hospital Medical Center’s recent repetitious ads suggest that the healthcare needs of Pascack and Northern Valley residents should be an insurance policy—to their financial needs. Maybe if Pascack Valley Hospital’s misguided expansion had the insurance of a market area with default needs—to drive patient revenue; we wouldn’t be having this discussion. TO READ MORE, click here
May 25, 2011
New CN Call: Prima Facie or Ultra Vires
Is the foreplay over? HUMC withdrew its legal challenge over the Permit Extension Act (PEA) and its’ application to the expired PVH license. Valley and Englewood Hospital had their appellate motions, to void the DOH’s new ‘Certificate of Need’ (CN) call for a new Westwood hospital, denied. — Now what? TO READ MORE, click here
April 11, 2011
Moving Forward
The end run has been set. Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) received notification from the DOH that its request for a certificate of need call, for a “new” general acute care hospital, has been accepted. (Click HERE to read article.) The process will run concurrently while HUMC’s lawsuit challenges the DOH’s other decision in which Pascack Valley Hospital’s (PVH) license was declared dead December 2009. It’s an irony spawned by politics and legal maneuvers while the Rome of public need burns.
TO READ MORE, click here
January 10, 2011
Fate dependent on others?
The mood is gloomy as area residents look to the prospects for a hospital returning to Westwood. Since last posting in September, HUMC, Valley and Englewood Hospitals have filed briefs in their ongoing legal dance to influence those prospects. (The Department of Justice, representing the Department of Health, requested an extension to Feb. 9th for their brief filing.) Yet, just in case HUMC’s legal efforts crash and burn, which seems likely, they are seeking a ‘Certificate of Need’ call from the Department of Health to address the debated hospital’s need in Pascack Valley.
May 3, 2010
Why does the public accept political rhetoric?
“Westwood mayor wants Christie to approve reopening of Pascack Valley Hospital,” the headline to a recent article in the local section of the Record newspaper. The problem with wanting is that it’s a synonym to wishing—and nowhere near defining an action. Of course we assume the action, or goal, is about accessible medical care for seniors and families in the Pascack and Northern Valleys; correct? TO READ MORE, click here
March 29, 2010
Is Strategic Planning Important
The future of a hospital reopening in Westwood is headed into an appeal process. The opposition is rumored as hopeful on its chances to win another round in the Appellate Division. The local politicians are rumored to be hopeful that politics will save the day. HUMC is hopefully depending on practical arguments, and an understanding judge with a sensible ear. TO READ MORE, click here
March 13, 2010
What-if ‘what-if’ was considered
The court deferred the CN expiration decision to the Appellate Division. It closed its’ ruling opinion noting, “one is compelled to wonder whether the interests are best served by mandating the licensing process start anew, particularly as the same may have been caused by a misunderstanding of various procedural requirements. Were this court not constrained, it might deem it provident to consider the needs and expectations of our residents to be paramount to procedural machinations.” TO READ MORE, click here
