State schedules hearing on Hoboken hospital’s ownership transfer

The state has scheduled a hearing July 21 in Hoboken on the proposal to transfer ownership of Hoboken University Medical Center from the city to HUMC Holdco, whose principals own Bayonne Medical Center.

The state has scheduled a hearing July 21 in Hoboken on the proposal to transfer ownership of Hoboken University Medical Center from the city to HUMC Holdco, whose principals own Bayonne Medical Center.

The State Health Planning Board will hold the hearing from 6 to 8 p.m. at Our Lady of Grace, 400 Willow Ave.

The Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority chose HUMC Holdco in April from among six bidders, and said winning the proposal would relieve the city’ $51.6 million bond debt, keep the hospital open and save most of its jobs, and provide new capital to renovate and develop the facility.

HUMC Holdco spokesman Spencer Baretz said the company “remain(s) committed to operating the hospital as a full-service, acute care community hospital, and recognize(s) HUMC’s important role in Hoboken.”

The sale is opposed by a diverse group of stakeholders, including insurers who said Bayonne Medical Center is an out-of network facility that has significantly raised its rates. The sale is also opposed by the public interest legal center New Jersey Appleseed, the consumer activist group New Jersey Citizen Action and the AARP. HUMC Holdco has responded that the opponents “are blind to the reality of the health care crisis in Hoboken and across New Jersey, a state that has seen 40 hospitals close in the past two decades.”

Written comments can be submitted no later than July 29 to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of Legal and Regulatory Compliance, Market & Warren Streets, P.O. Box 360, Trenton 08625-0360.

The board, which is part of the Health Department, said it will review the application at a future meeting that has not yet been scheduled.