The decision late last week by the New Jersey Department of Health to advance the
plans of RWJBarnabas Health to build a 252-bed modern acute care hospital in Tinton
Falls on the Vogel Medical Campus – moving much of its hospital services away from
Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch – was not received well by Congressman
Frank Pallone (D, 6th district), who represents the area.
Hackensack Meridian Health, which operates Jersey Shore University Medical Center in
Neptune, also was upset.
Both Pallone and HMH issued unusually strong statements against the decision, with
Pallone suggesting the plan was about “profits” and took aim at Gov. Phil Murphy. HMH
suggested the new facility would “endanger patients and destabilize regional health
care.”
To be clear, a new hospital in Tinton Falls is years away – with RWJBH officials saying
the earliest it could open would be 2032.
And Monmouth Medical Center CEO Eric Carney, in a press briefing last Friday,
reiterated that there were no plans to close the existing Long Branch facility and that he
considers the Vogel Medical Campus to be an expansion of the current services.
“The hospital is not closing,” he said.
Carney said the existing hospital will transfer a number of services to the new Vogel
Medical Center campus. That is one of the issues that drew Pallone’s ire.
“I put forward a plan to allow a new hospital to be built in Tinton Falls, while keeping
Long Branch a full-scale acute care hospital,” Pallone said. “RWJ Barnabas originally
accepted the plan but then changed it at the prompting of the acting State Health
Commissioner (Jeffrey Brown), and ultimately the Governor. It is their fault this is
happening, but they have the power to stop it.”
“Now is the time for elected leaders and our community to tell Gov. Murphy and acting
Commissioner Brown that this is unacceptable and to reject this proposal.”
Maggie Garbarino, a spokesperson for Murphy, pushed back on Pallone’s comments.
“Congressman Pallone is entitled to his own views, but not his own facts,” the
spokesperson said. “RWJBarnabas Health has submitted a complete application to the
New Jersey Department of Health to relocate a current hospital license to a new facility
in the nearby community of Tinton Falls, while ensuring continuity of Emergency
Department and certain inpatient and outpatient services in Long Branch. The
department plans to continue its evaluation process over the next few weeks.”
Pallone, in his statement, said the neediest in the community are being hurt.
“This plan puts profits over working people in order to build a concierge hospital for
wealthier patients,” he said. “Effectively closing Long Branch’s hospital will leave
thousands of families without access to health care and will further strain other hospitals
in the region at the same time the Trump Administration is slashing funding to health
care. RWJ Barnabas Health’s unacceptable abandonment of the Long Branch
community calls into question the health system’s status as a non-profit hospital.”
HMH also felt the new campus will hurt the most vulnerable.
“This move effectively abandons Long Branch’s most vulnerable residents, a community with limited access to transportation that relies on its local hospital,” the system said in a statement. “Replacing a full-service acute care hospital with a satellite clinic is a drastic reduction of care.
“It will disproportionately harm Long Branch’s uninsured, minority, and chronically ill
populations who will lose their birthing center, life-saving cardiac care, and rapid access
to stroke treatment. As Long Branch grows, it needs more healthcare access, not less.”
That impact will be felt around the county, HMH said in its statement.
“If approved, the consequences will be felt immediately at Hackensack Meridian
Health’s Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center,” it said
in the statement. “Given Jersey Shore University Medical Center is the closest hospital,
we anticipate an overwhelming influx of patients from Long Branch, pushing our
facility—already one of the busiest in the state and operating beyond capacity to a
breaking point, further stressing the hospital with added volume.
“While Hackensack Meridian Health does have plans to expand Jersey Shore University
Medical Center, those plans were made in advance of this announcement and would
not accommodate this influx, adversely impacting the quality of care provided to greater
Neptune, Red Bank and the surrounding communities. This undue stress to our hospitals, along with the move forcing patients to travel further for quality care, hurts the
health of everyone in Monmouth County.”
Carney disagreed with the assessment.
While the hospital intends to move surgical and maternity care to the new facility, he
said it intends to maintain the existing emergency room – and that it will have
ambulances and other transport vehicles available to move patients who need to be
admitted, to be sent to the new Vogel Medical Campus.
Carney said the new hospital will enable RWJBH to expand its emergency room
capacity.
“By creating a satellite emergency room in Long Branch and creating an additional full-
service emergency room in Tinton Falls, we are expanding emergency room capacity,”
he said.
Carney reiterated that he does not equate this process to the closing of a hospital.
“I define the Vogel Medical Campus as an expansion of Monmouth Medical Center,” he
said.
