What is going on at CarePoint Health?
And what is the state doing to fix it?
These are straightforward questions that Gov. Murphy and the state Department of Health must start answering in detail and with candor as the system that owns and operates three of Hudson County’s six hospitals flounders.
Month after month, distressing and confusing news about Christ Hospital in Jersey City, Bayonne Medical Center and Hoboken University Medical Center dribbles out, reported to the public in large part only through the hard work of journalists trying to keep Hudson County residents informed about this most important issue.
At each stage, the response from Trenton is either radio silence or a carefully crafted “statement” that pretty much says nothing.
Take, for example, the DOH response in January after it took the rather drastic step of appointing a fiscal monitor to oversee the CarePoint system: “The state Department of Health continues to closely monitor the situation to ensure continuity and quality of care for patients, which remains our top priority.”
Similarly, CarePoint leadership responds with public relations spin like: “CarePoint Health has always been open to engaging with members of the community and key stakeholders in constructive dialogue based around a shared commitment to improving health care in Hudson County, and we have already had productive conversations with the appointed state monitor around that goal.”
Does any of that p.r.-speak really reassure patients, patients’ families, or hospital staff as news comes out regularly about continuing battles over ownership, debt and reduced services?
The most candid response The Jersey Journal has received from either the state or the hospital system came in December when CarePoint’s CEO told the press the system was “in dire need” financially, was seeking $130 million from the state, and was starting a change.org petition to get public support for the aid.
The latest news, which came last week, is perhaps the most distressing. The biannual Leapfrog hospitals report card graded Christ Hospital as the worst in the state – let’s say that again, the worst in the state -- when it comes to patient safety.
The hospital’s “D” grade looked at categories like:
— Practitioner hand-washing requirements;
— Procedures to address the risk of patients falling;
— Patients not being adequately informed about their medicines or discharge plans;
— Staff being rated well below average in following protocol for safe administration of medication;
— Staff too slow to respond to patient needs;
— Doctors and nurses not adequately listening to patients and explaining information.
Any of those categories can mean the difference between a good outcome for whatever put a patient in the hospital in the first place and the patient either getting worse or not recovering at all.
In laymen’s terms: Patients and families are suffering, and hospital staff is apparently being stretched beyond their limits.
It bears mentioning, too, that, as is too often the case, the mounting problems are not at hospitals catering to the rich, famous or even well-heeled but to middle-class, working-class and impoverished residents. In fact, two of the three hospitals – Hoboken and beleaguered Christ – are considered “safety net” hospitals for patients regardless of their insurance status and ability to pay.
How long must Hudson County residents put up with all this?
And how long must they be kept in the dark about what Trenton is doing to shore up these facilities and the healthcare landscape?
What has the fiscal monitor determined in the past four months?
What plans are being formulated and when will they be put in place?
There was talk last week that Hudson Regional Hospital and RWJBarnabas, which operates Jersey City Medical Center, were exploring a joint bid for CarePoint. Is a takeover by these other institutions feasible? How would it affect the availability and cost of services across the county?
When will you assure us, Gov. Murphy and Health Commissioner Kaitlan Baston, that you’re on top of the situation and working to solve these crises soon?
History will no doubt see the deaths of some 200 patients in three veterans nursing homes during the COVID pandemic and the underlying problematic conditions since exposed as the greatest stain on the Murphy administration’s two terms in office.
As the administration works to implement reforms in veterans and other nursing homes, it must also come clean with Hudson County residents about exactly what the situation is at the three CarePoint hospitals, what is being done to turn it all around, and when we can expect to see improvements.
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