NorthJersey.com, 7/12/17
By Steve Janoski
The Bergen County Freeholder Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to give control of the state’s largest hospital to a partnership of mental health and addiction providers.
The vote to award a 19-year-contract to new operators of Bergen Regional Medical Center came without comment from the freeholders. It was greeted by prolonged applause from the audience, which included representatives of the new partnership.
The vote was taken over the objections of three Democratic state senators – Loretta Weinberg, Paul Sarlo and Robert Gordon – who had asked in a letter that it be postponed because the senators had questions about the proposal.
Earlier on Wednesday, County Executive James J. Tedesco, a Paramus Democrat, had recommended to freeholders that Care Plus Bergen assume control of the hospital on Oct. 1.
“This is a new, exciting chapter for this hospital, its patients, and staff. And the people of Bergen County,” Tedesco said.
The executive called the new contract a significant improvement over the previous agreement with a for-profit management company, which had a long history of disagreements with the county over how the hospital was functioning.
Care Plus Bergen, a not-for-profit, is a joint venture by Care Plus NJ, a Paramus-based mental health outpatient company, and Integrity House, a Newark-based addiction treatment center. Rutgers University will be subcontracted to provide a number of clinical services at the medical center, a university representative said Wednesday.
Care Plus, which has provided outpatient care in several North Jersey locations for 40 years, has proposed transforming the Paramus hospital into a new facility. It would give Bergen residents priority treatment and accept commercial insurance so families don’t have to send loved ones out of state for addiction treatment.
“We want to make it a destination place – where families will want to bring people to,” said Joseph Masciandaro, president and CEO of Care Plus NJ.
At the news conference, Tedesco said was recommending Care Plus because it offered a “much better, and much more comprehensive ability to allow for a full draft of services throughout the hospital.”
Bergen Regional, which collects $200 million in revenues annually, has long served as a safety net for the indigent and other vulnerable patients. It has an acute care hospital, an inpatient psychiatric hospital, inpatient addiction treatment and a large nursing home.
While Bergen Regional is owned by the county, it has been managed for years by a private, for-profit entity.
In a news conference held earlier in the day, Tedesco said he was unsure what the senators were referring to when they said they had questions about the proposal.
“The county is making a decision on this and the freeholders are making a decision on this,” he said. “So I’m not sure what that means, ‘They have not gotten any answers.’ The answers that need to be addressed are between the county administration and the Board of Chosen Freeholders.”
Freeholder Board Chairwoman Tracy Zur said in a statement that the county has decades of experience with Care Plus NJ. “We know they get it,” she said.
Tedesco’s recommendation Wednesday ended months of speculation about which company would take over the 1,070-bed hospital.
Care Plus beat out six other entities pursuing the contract, including a heavily favored coalition of five other Bergen County hospitals: Hackensack University Medical Center, Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and Christian Health in Wyckoff.
Bidders seeking the contract pitched their plans to Bergen County officials starting in February. Though the plans varied greatly, all proposed upgrading the 100-year-old hospital, which still has a main electrical panel installed during the Roosevelt presidency. Bidders also sought to end revolving-door care, with its repeated ER visits and admissions that drive up costs yet don’t address patients’ long-term health issues.
Last year, The Record reported that police had logged hundreds of alleged assaults at the hospital, including at least two allegations of sexual assaults against children.
Last month, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the company that runs the hospital $14,000 over patient attacks on several workers, including an incident in which a nurse was so badly hurt she required surgery and couldn’t work for a year. The federal agency said the organization had improved worker safety after the federal investigation.