More than 1,500 healthcare workers and community members sent a petition to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and the state’s department of health on Oct. 12 to request emergency funding to keep Jersey City-based Hudson Regional Health’s Heights University Hospital, also in Jersey City, open.
Hudson Regional shared in late September that it would suspend non-essential services at Heights University, previously known as Christ Hospital, should the state or other government bodies not provide it needed financial support. In early October, New Jersey state Sens. Raj Mukherji and Brian Stack also shared plans to sponsor a $25 million supplemental appropriation to help combat the hospital’s financial struggles.
“Immediate funding from Governor Murphy and the state is the only viable path for our hospital to survive,” Nizar Kifaieh, MD, president and CEO of Hudson Regional Health, said in an Oct. 12 release shared with Becker’s. “I thank our essential employees, who deliver lifesaving care each and every day to our patients, for making their voices heard to the Governor that closure can be avoided with the emergency funding we have desperately requested. We are asking him to urgently act, without delay, to save our hospital.”
The release said “a host of problems, issues and challenges beyond our control” has resulted in Heights University losing more than $1.5 million weekly. The losses have left vulnerable patients like seniors and those without Medicare coverage or health insurance without care.
Becker’s has reached out to Gov. Phil Murphy’s office for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
