Jersey City, N.J.-based Hudson Regional Health suspended emergency department operations March 14 at Heights University Hospital, also in Jersey City, and is moving forward with a certificate of need for closure after sunsetting its other services in mid-November 2025.
“Unfortunately, in Jersey City as a result of a majority underinsured payer mix, cuts to state and county aid, an aging and neglected facility, and other factors led to unsustainable losses at Heights University Hospital of more than $74 million last year, with over $30 million projected this year,” Hudson Regional Health said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “These losses ultimately jeopardized healthcare operations across the HRH network in Bayonne, Hoboken and Secaucus.”
Hudson Regional Health was created in May 2025 as part of CarePoint Health’s bankruptcy exit. The then four-hospital system developed a stabilization plan for Heights University Hospital in late October to phase out nonessential services and shift some employees to other facilities.
Heights University Hospital, formerly known as Christ Hospital, ultimately ended all other services in mid-November 2025, but maintained its 24/7 ED. In late February, Hudson Regional shared plans to close the ED following significant losses, but said it will partner with Alliance Community Healthcare, a federally qualified health center, to ensure area care is provided.
The statement said that both New Jersey and the city of Jersey City are “not willing to provide funding or other measures to support HRH in operating the facility.” However, Jersey City Mayor James Solomon and Jersey City’s Corporation Counsel Sarah Levine filed an emergency injunction March 14 to prevent the ED closure, but it was denied.
“At every stop on the way to today, HRH failed to follow basic rules required by state law to close a hospital,” Mr. Solomon and Ms. Levine said in a joint statement. “Unfortunately, the allowed penalties are so small as to count as the cost of doing business. Further, in recent days HRH sought to negotiate a deal to keep the hospital open long-term if the city agreed to fast track the process to begin a luxury residential development project on the site.”
The ED closure also received backlash from organizations like District 1199J, an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union local that represents former employees of Heights University Hospital. It filed a mid-March complaint in New Jersey state court that accused the hospital of violating the state’s WARN Act after it closed most of the facility’s operations without adequate notice.
“HRH will continue to explore all options, in partnership with all interested parties and government partners, in building a future, sustainable healthcare system in the Heights that provides quality care the community deserves, in a way that is financially sustainable,” Hudson Regional’s statement said.
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