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.
September 7, 2010
Delayed By Dissent
“It is disappointing that a small group of people, largely those who live in the hospital’s neighborhood, are attacking the village and its Planning Board to delay a project that will serve so many people of our region for years to come,” said Megan Fraser, the hospital’s spokeswoman. “After almost four years and 35 meetings that included exhaustive testimony, investigation and disclosure, the suit is an unfortunate step in the wrong direction.” — This supercilious analysis by a Valley Hospital representative is taken from a recent Record article. (Click HERE to read.) It’s a remark in response to a lawsuit brought by Ridgewood residents hoping to stop Valley Hospital’s mammoth $750 million “renewal” project. TO READ MORE, click here
August 9, 2010
“Working Real Hard”
Thirty-two months and still counting since Pascack Valley Hospital (PVH) closed in Westwood. Its’ reopening remains in a state of uncertainty. Mayor Birkner is quoted in a recent Record article; “We’ve been ‘working real hard’ on this issue for a real long time.” (Click here to read) “Working real hard?” What does that mean? TO READ MORE, click here
June 19, 2010
How Do Facts Play Into A Public Decision?
It’s interesting that Valley Hospital and its host community, Ridgewood, have opposing views to its ‘renewal,’ aka, growth. Valley sees it as a requirement to meet future demand and opportunity. Ridgewood sees it as an adjacent school safety concern, traffic generator, air polluter, noise producer and tax impact. A recent Record editorial opinion sees the hospital’s expansion as a necessity. (The Record also notes their observation was an independent thought, while citing their publisher serves on Valley Hospital’s President’s Council, a voluntary hospital advisory board. Click HERE to read their editorial.) Conflicting concerns that ask which ‘facts’ should be given priority in a public decision process? TO READ MORE, click here
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
February 22, 2010
Saga Awaits Another Decision
Our new Republican Governor, Chris Christi, offered a fresh view for a New Jersey politician in his budget speech this month; he called for “sacrifice.” He proposed real cuts in government spending in a time when the federal leadership is spending trillions, states, billions and municipal governments, millions.
He asked decision makers to “begin the process of reform,” to “listen to the will of the people and proceed in a new, more responsible direction,” to “live within the means the people are already providing,” to “not take more of their hard-earned wages and savings from the pockets,” to “have the courage to make change” and “to craft a more sound and sustainable budget.” This is a remarkable request—one that will fall on many an elected official’s deaf ear. It has in Westwood, and it has a Republican council, but that’s another post. TO READ MORE, click here
February 8, 2010
Public Need vs. Money and Politics
The pro and con forces are currently battling the legal nuances of which court has jurisdiction over the tentatively expired certificate of need (CN). Its’ expiration was an administrative decision made by the former Health Commissioner Heather Howard. A decision made through the intentional failure to act on authorizing an extension to the Pascack Valley Hospital’s CN. She chose not to accommodate Hackensack University Medical Center’s (HUMC) request as it seeks to reopen a small hospital, placing politics over people. TO READ MORE, click here
January 18, 2010
Hospital Financial Challenges – Whose Fault
Too many hospitals view themselves in a different world when it comes to the business of services. A recent Record article, ‘New Jersey hospitals continue to suffer financially,’ underscored such in quoting NJ Hospital Association’s president Betsy Ryan, who stated; “Just like other businesses, hospitals continue to feel the economic pressures of the recession, but unlike other businesses, hospitals can’t simply adjust by reducing their output or cutting back on hours.” TO READ MORE, click here
December 21, 2009
Scenario Four
“Scenario Four: Large university system wants to expand its network and tertiary capacity by building a new community hospital.” It’s one of several thought proposals on Legacy Hospital Partner’s (LHP) web site. They’re a firm that offers financial joint venture options in a nonprofit industry that requires intensive capital outlays. It allows for collaboration that expands opportunity and the reach of health care access. In HUMC’s proposition for reopening Pascack Valley Hospital it exploits a synergy that would shift the financial burden and risk from taxpayers to investors, while maintaining the mission goals of a successful nonprofit business model. TO READ MORE, click here
November 17, 2009
Strategic Management (1)
Two years and the likelihood for a new hospital returning to Westwood isn’t any clearer. We have a hospital organization, which deferred its application for the extended certificate of need, offering no new guidance as to their end game. We have Westwood elected officials placing a letter to the editor in the local papers saying they’re going to hold the governor-elect to his word. (Sounds good, means little.) We have a multi-town non-binding referendum passed with 72% in support of a reopened hospital. And we have a newspaper editorial presenting the options—“The choice pits expert evaluation against political desire”—but from perhaps a misdirected viewpoint. TO READ MORE, click here
November 9, 2009
A Rational Decision Required
DOH had extended the PVH Certificate of Need (CN) in 2007, initially acknowledging a hospital was needed in the northeast corner of the State. Unfortunately the only applicant, HUMC, had withdrawn its request before a decision could be made. Purportedly they believed a negative decision would be driven by political concerns over need, and wanted to enhance their application’s foundation for approval. TO READ MORE, click here
October 26, 2009
Words, Action and Disclosure
Bergen County Democratic Organization’s former power broker, Joseph Ferriero, was found guilty this past week. His lack of disclosure in owning a company doing business with government officials was a contributing factor to that guilt. TO READ MORE, click here
September 10, 2009
Hospitals, Business and Need (2)
The population share for which a hospital administers health care represents its’ service, market or catchment area, depending on one’s terminology preference. It can be generally measured through a variety of theoretical models with titles such as ‘Treatment-Intensity,’ ‘Elzinga-Hogarty,’ ‘Critical Loss,’ ‘Patient-Flow,’ etc. TO READ MORE, click here
July 28, 2009
Misplaced Priorities
What’s the difference between politics and a caterpillar? A caterpillar can change. Unfortunately the politics in New Jersey don’t. To prove it, Governor Corzine chose Senator Weinberg to serve as his running mate for Lieutenant Governor. Picking a seasoned individual in her mid 70’s, with liberal ideology, experienced in political pandering. The choice should assist in reinforcing past legislative failures, presumably with greater honesty. TO READ MORE, click here
July 21, 2009
Passionate Perspectives
The prior FTC Chairman, William Kovacic, emphasized the importance of health care competition in a September 2008 opinion, stating that, “The health care industry provides us all with fundamental services at significant and vulnerable times. Vigorous competition can promote greater access to cost-effective, high-quality health care.” Today in New Jersey, the significant and vulnerable times of those who live in the northern corner of the State are secondary to politics and profits. TO READ MORE, click here
July 14, 2009
Bobblehead Politics
NJ Assemblyman Gordon Johnson shifted the Pascack Valley Hospital (PVH) reopening to a new playing field, introducing the color of patients to the equation. (Click HERE to read.) Just when you thought rationale reasoning was going to offer healthcare a safe return to Westwood the jaws of racism raises it head. TO READ MORE, click here
April 13, 2009
Pass Go, Collect 200 Patients
The Valley and Englewood Hospitals continue to press their efforts to gain and hold market share since Pascack’s closing. They shift back and forth between defense and offense in their Monopoly game with Hackensack. Manipulating the end use of the prized Westwood ‘Park Place’ property is at stake. TO READ MORE, click here
September 23, 2008
Myopic Decision Process
In a curious move, the Planning Board has authorized an appeal of the decision by the court that directed it to approve the Wachovia project. This project, which will clean up the former Valley Ford property, plans to build a bank surrounded by a pocket park, trees and 25+ commuter parking spaces. TO READ MORE, click here
