Jersey City, N.J.-based CarePoint Health is requesting at least $130 million in state funding to help tackle "unprecedented challenges" and provide essential healthcare services to the community.
Although the New Jersey Department of Health provided $10 million to CarePoint in the 2023 budget, the nonprofit organization is still in need of at least $100 million in state appropriations and a $30 million Governors Grant to continue optimal pace operations, according to a Dec. 19 release shared with Becker's.
Uncompensated care demands, rising healthcare costs, and escalating homelessness are just some of the effects that have put an economic strain on CarePoint. While nearly $700 million in the American Rescue Plan Act is to be distributed to New Jersey hospitals by the end of 2023, the health system said its three safety-net hospitals have received no funding.
CarePoint's emergency department is also reportedly overwhelmed, having treated 17,500 charity care patients to date, along with 4,300 local homeless patients, according to the release. These numbers have reportedly surpassed those collected from 2022.
"We urge our state leadership to recognize the urgent need that exists at our hospitals and allocate appropriate funding from the state budget and any available discretionary funds towards CarePoint's community health initiatives," Achintya Moulick, MD, president and CEO of CarePoint Health, said in the release.