NJ Biz
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2009
BY Shankar P.

The controversy over the proposed reopening of Pascack Valley Hospital as a 128-bed, for-profit hospital in Bergen County’s Westwood has entered a new, political orbit, following Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie’s support for the plan.

Bergen County’s existing hospitals, including Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and Valley Hospital, have strongly opposed the plans by Hackensack University Medical Center to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital.

The two hospitals have for long said the area already has an oversupply of beds and that a new hospital would hurt the fortunes of other hospitals in the area. After the last public hearing, in June, the matter is now awaiting a decision from the state health department.

Englewood and Valley hospitals responded to Christie’s comments, made Monday afternoon, in a joint statement.

“We respect any gubernatorial candidate’s right to speak out on the important issues facing our state,” the statement read. “But at the end of the day, adding a new hospital to a county with an oversupply of hospital beds would weaken the area’s existing hospitals.”

The two hospitals said the question of whether or not to have a new hospital in the area “is not a partisan issue … (or) about any political party or any candidate for office — it is about the long-term health of Bergen County’s hospitals.” They recalled that the state-appointed Reinhardt Commission had also pointed to an oversupply of beds in the area.

But the two hospitals clearly didn’t relish Christie’s comments. “When politics interferes, oftentimes good public policy will get distorted to the benefit of a smaller segment of the population,” the hospitals said in a statement.

Maria Margiotta, director of marketing and communications for Englewood Hospital, said documents sent to Gov. Jon S. Corzine “indicate that even when Pascack Valley Hospital was open, more people from Pascack communities chose Valley and Englewood hospitals for their health care than Pascack Valley Hospital.”

E-mail Shankar P. at shankar_p@njbiz.com

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