A new whitepaper from a prominent healthcare workers' union in New Jersey has criticized the state's Department of Health for "lax oversight and inadequate safeguards," which has led to the proliferation of hospital closures, bankruptcies and takeovers throughout the state.
According to the report from Health Professionals and Allied Employees, part of the AFL-CIO, 19 New Jersey acute-care hospitals have closed or filed for bankruptcy since the late 1990s. In addition, eight nonprofit community hospitals have been sold to for-profit buyers, and at least six more similar deals are pending. Some of the transactions include Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services and Santa Ana, Calif.-based Prospect Medical Holdings.
HPAE's report also said hospitals have gotten to that "destabilized" state after "years of mismanagement by hospital executives and anemic oversight by board members and government regulators." The union also criticized a rising out-of-network business model, which ultimately charges higher prices to patients, and sale-leaseback transactions.
Further, the DOH has failed to update nurse staffing standards, appoint financial and patient safety monitors at hospitals and scrutinize transactions with a close eye, the report argued. "Although the DOH has a mandate to ensure compliance with safeguards and protections at [New Jersey] healthcare institutions, the DOH has adopted a laissez-faire approach to hospital oversight," the report stated. "At a time when more oversight and accountability is necessary to uphold licensure and patient care standards, New Jerseyans find themselves less protected."
The union called on New Jersey officials to increase oversight at financially troubled hospitals and enforce stricter measures for licensing, takeovers and staffing, among several other recommendations.
Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the DOH, told The Star-Ledger "the department has taken an increasingly aggressive approach toward enforcement and oversight" and disputed other observations within the report.
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