RWJ also plans to relocate its award-winning labor & delivery department from Monmouth Medical Center to Tinton Falls:
LONG BRANCH, NJ — RWJ Barnabas Health is asking for the state's approval to transfer the Monmouth Medical Center hospital license to a new hospital it is currently building in Tinton Falls.
RWJ Barnabas is currently building the Vogel Medical Campus on 36 acres of the former Fort Monmouth U.S. Army base in Tinton Falls.
That medical campus will include a 252-bed modern acute care hospital. If the state approves it, RWJ plans to relocate several key services it offers at Monmouth Medical Center, including its award-winning labor & delivery department, to Tinton Falls.
This was confirmed Friday by the office of Gov. Phil Murphy.
Congressman Frank Pallone is fighting the move, which he warned will leave a "shell" of the current Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, and take away much-needed healthcare services for poor residents of Long Branch.
"Let me call this what this is: This is effectively a closure of the hospital in Long Branch and an abandonment of the underserved minority community, to move to an area where there are wealthier patients who can pay through private insurance," he said Friday, in this video released to the media.
The New Jersey Department of Health is currently reviewing an application from RWJ Barnabas to relocate Monmouth Medical Center's hospital license to its new Tinton Falls location. (State law does not allow for the creation of a second hospital under the same license.)
Pallone said it was "about a year ago" when RWJ Barnabas first submitted a plan to the state health commissioner to build a new medical campus in Tinton Falls.
"I didn't have a problem with that," said the congressman, who represents Long Branch. "Because they guaranteed me that while they would be transferring some services to the new hospital in Tinton Falls, that the Long Branch hospital would continue to function as an acute-care hospital. Meaning it would continue to have beds, an ICU and major surgery."
"That is now not the case."
Pallone warned that once Monmouth Medical Center loses its hospital license, it cannot operate as a true hospital.
"You won't be able to have a baby at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, which is one of the things it's been mainly known for. There's no more delivery, no more NICU ... It also means there will be no more medical/surgical beds. It's essentially an outpatient service center, no different than the one that's in Monmouth Mall," said the congressman. "You can't stay overnight; you can't have any major surgery. All that is left is an emergency department, and same-day outpatient services. That's it."
A spokeswoman for Gov. Murphy said — if the transfer goes through — an ER will still remain at Monmouth Medical Center, as well as certain inpatient and outpatient services.
“Congressman Pallone is entitled to his own views, but not his own facts," Maggie Garbarino, a spokeswoman for Gov. Murphy, said Friday. "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.”
Under the proposed plan, here are all the services that will remain at Monmouth Medical Center: An emergency department, 24 beds for "observation" (not overnight stays); inpatient psychiatric beds; outpatient psychiatric services, an outpatient surgical center, imaging services and clinics.
When asked for this article, RWJ Barnabas said its Tinton Falls campus will be located just five miles away from Monmouth Medical Center, and said "the Long Branch campus will maintain critical emergency and behavioral health services, as well as overnight observation beds."
"The Long Branch campus will continue to provide essential emergency services, while the new acute care hospital in Tinton Falls, with its close proximity to the Garden State Parkway and other major roadways, will bring Monmouth Medical Center’s nationally recognized clinical care closer to more people we serve across the county and region," said Mary Anne Nagy, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees at Monmouth Medical Center.
RWJ Barnabas also said Friday it is making investments in Monmouth Medical Center, including updates to the patient care tower and the building’s façade, along with adding parking.
Pallone went even further: He predicted Friday that RWJ's eventual plan is to close Monmouth Medical Center entirely, and sell the hospital building to a developer.
RWJ Barnabas did not respond to the congressman's assertion.
"It's only a matter of time before they even close what's left," warned Pallone. "There are developers who want to take this land and put up luxury condominiums. I have absolutely no doubt that they're having conversations now with developers to sell."
The NJ Department of Health has 120 days to make a final decision on RWJ's request to transfer Monmouth Medical Center's hospital license to its new Tinton Falls facility. The next step is the state is required to hold public hearings on the license transfer.
"The governor is to blame. The health commissioner (currently acting NJ Health Commissioner Jeffrey Brown) is to blame," said Pallone. "They could have prevented this ... My fear is they are going to try to expedite this approval before the governor leaves office. RWJ Barnabas Health’s unacceptable abandonment of the Long Branch community calls into question the health system’s status as a non-profit hospital.”
In 2022, RWJ Barnabas paid $8 million to buy 36 acres from the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority, which controls all the land at Fort Monmouth. As Patch reported, RWJ Barnabas is building its new Vogel Medical Campus on those 36 acres.
The first part of the Vogel Medical Campus that will open will be a five-story, 150,000-square-foot cancer center, currently under construction at Pearl Harbor Avenue and Corregidor Road.
Pallone also warned that RWJ Barnabas opening in Tinton Falls will steal patients from Riverview Medical Center, owned by rival Hackensack Meridian. He said Riverview is "already struggling financially," and this will force Riverview to one day close, as well.
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