West Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health on Jan. 8 received final approval from the New Jersey Department of Health to build its 15th hospital.
Here are five things to know:
1. The decision allows the system to build an acute care hospital in Tinton Falls, N.J., and make improvements at its existing Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., according to a Jan. 8 statement from Monmouth Medical Center President and CEO Eric Carney that was shared with Becker’s.
2. The health department in October determined the system’s certificate-of-need application for the 252-bed hospital was complete. The facility will be built on the Vogel Medical Campus, located about five miles from the Long Branch site, and will feature all private inpatient rooms, emergency and surgical services, and radiology.
3. The department approved the certificate-of-need relocation application for Monmouth Medical to move from Long Branch to Vogel Medical Campus, with conditions, a health department spokesperson said in a Jan. 8 statement shared with Becker’s. Conditions include maintaining a satellite emergency department, outpatient surgery services, outpatient clinics, a patient observation unit, imaging services and inpatient psychiatric beds at the Long Branch site. The system must also provide free ground transportation between the two campuses for patients.
4. RWJBarnabas plans to enter the design phase in the coming months, with the goal of opening in 2032, Mr. Carney said. The Vogel campus also will include a 150,000-square-foot outpatient cancer and specialty care center, developed in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, that is slated to open in late 2026.
The projected cost for the project is $858.7 million, a health system spokesperson confirmed to Becker’s.
5. The health department is also requiring Monmouth Medical Center establish a community advisory group that provides input to the hospital’s leadership. The group will include the mayors or their designees from the primary service areas, patient care advocates, local public health officials and community advocates.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 9:11 a.m. Central time on Jan. 9 to include the cost.
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