New Jersey's lone public hospital is planning a 10 year, $1.8 billion overhaul that remains mostly unfunded, nj.com reported Feb. 9.
Newark-based University Hospital has been in disrepair for years, the report said. It is prone to flooding, and its emergency room sees more than 90,000 patients each year — 30,000 more than what it was designed to accommodate.
The hospital, which is the principal teaching hospital of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and opened in 1979, needs about $20 million in emergency repairs annually, according to former CEO Shereef Elnahal, MD, who had called for an up to $1.4 billion replacement hospital.
"Now, how do we pay for it?" new president and CEO Ed Jimenez said, according to the report. "We're not sure yet."
Mr. Jimenez, a New Jersey native and former University Hospital employee, stepped into his current role in December.
"Some of it's going through the [New Jersey] Economic Development Authority," he said. The state has promised $200 million toward the renovations.
A draft of the plan, which has not been finalized, includes a new surgical platform, a critical care tower with private rooms, a farmer's market and updated parking, the report said.
"We have one public hospital in the entire state of New Jersey, and that's University Hospital," Health Professionals and Allied Employees President Debbie White, RN, said, according to the report. "None of our other hospitals are owned by the state. And it is incumbent upon the state to maintain this facility and this structure, which we've failed miserably to do."
"In other words, UH has such a crumbling infrastructure that it necessitates that we build a new campus," Ms. White said. "We can't put bandaids on this structure anymore. We can't fix the entire building. We need a new building. We need a new campus. We need updated equipment. We need updated technology. We need a modern campus."