The operator of three hospitals in Hudson County is planning to open nine satellite emergency departments, including two in the shadows of its main competitors.
The operator of three hospitals in Hudson County is planning to open nine satellite emergency departments, including two in the shadow of its main competitors.
CarePoint Health has applied with the state Department of Health to open facilities in the Greenville section of Jersey City, Downtown Jersey City, Union City and North Bergen in Hudson County.
CarePoint is proposing four in Bergen County -- Edgewater, Palisades Park, Carlstadt, and Lodi -- and one in Clifton, in Passaic County.
CarePoint operates Christ Hospital, Hoboken University Medical Center and Bayonne Medical Center in Hudson County.
In a 40-page presentation to the state, CarePoint officials cite "improved capacity and access" to emergency care, a reduction in cost to patients and an economic benefit to the communities where the satellite emergency departments would open.
Officials also said in its presentation that CarePoint would partner with Adeptus Health, a leader in the field of free-standing ER departments, for the possible expansion.
CarePoint officials declined to comment on the plan today, but in its Aug. 4 presentation, Carepoint Health Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Kirat Y. Kharode said the plans aims to "provide access to high quality, emergency care for these communities identified as underserved."
The proposed Downtown Jersey City facility would appear to be a shot back at Jersey City Medical Center-RJWBarnabas Health's plan to open a similar facility in a medical arts building under construction in Bayonne, just a few blocks from Bayonne Medical Center.
The planned CarePoint ER would be on Warren Street, 1.3 miles from the JCMC. The proposed Greenville facility would be on Kellogg Street, not far from the former Greenville Hospital. Jersey City Medical Center officials, who can contest the proposed facilities, did not respond to a request for comment.
CarePoint may also be giving the HUMC-Palisades Medical Center some competition in North Bergen. The tentative site for its satellite ER is just down the block from the PMC. Officials cite PMC's low net promoter scores -- which are based on factors such as how crowded and busy a facility is -- as the reason another ER is necessary.
CarePoint also cites its low net promoter scores at Christ Hospital, as well as PMC and Meadowlands Hospital, as a reason for the necessity of the Union City facility. Of the three hospitals cited, HUMC has the highest satisfaction rating.
The nine new centers would constitute a $72 million capital investment in northern New Jersey and also would create 100 new jobs, CarePoint officials said in its presentation.
Kharode also stressed in a letter addressed to Health Commissioner Cathleen D. Bennett that these ER centers would reduce patients' out-of-pocket costs in comparison to a hospital ER visit.
