HUMC Files Application for New Hospital in Westwood

PV Joint Venture, which includes Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) and LHP Hospital Group, Inc., filed a certificate of need application Wednesday with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services to open a general acute care hospital on Old Hook Road in Westwood, the former site of Pascack Valley Hospital and the current home of an emergency room, .

Department of Health Spokeswoman Donna Leusner said the HUMC application was the only one received Wednesday, which was the deadline for applicants. Now the application will go through a review process that is expected to conclude around Aug. 6.

"The application has to be reviewed by the department to ensure that it is in conformity with the rules that are in effect for the certificate of need," Leusner said. "The department may have some additional questions and may want to get back to the applicant."

If the application is deemed complete, the state Health Planning Board would review it and submit a recommendation to the commissioner. Leusner said the board would hold a meeting and take a vote on the recommendation on or before Nov. 3. She said the commissioner would then review the recommendation and make a decision within four months.

According to the application, the proposed hospital, which would be named HUMC North, would open in late 2012 and have 128 beds, significantly fewer than Pascack Valley Hospital, which had 290. "The reduction in bed capacity from 290 to 128 will serve the local communities appropriately while ensuring that there will be no negative impact on other existing hospitals in Bergen County," the application reads.

HUMC North would serve 14 municipalities in the northeastern corner of Bergen County as well as some Rockland County communities, the application states.

The hospital will be "in a region that lacks ready access to acute care hospital services," according to the application. The applicant says Pascack Valley Hospital closed not because of the lack of need for a hospital, but because finances were mismanaged which led to bankruptcy.

Renovations to the site are expected to cost $39,590,409. According to the application, about 325,290 square feet of the 388,000-square-foot facility would be refurbished or changed.

A new hospital would bring a boost to the local economy, the application says, estimating 300 construction jobs and 700 permanent hospital jobs would be created.

The application claims the majority of residents in the Pascack Valley and Northern Valley support reopening a full hospital in Westwood, pointing to signed petitions, letters and a 75 percent support rate on a ballot question in the November 2009 general election.

Westwood Mayor John Birkner Jr., who has been a longtime supporter of reopening a hospital in the borough, reminded residents that there are dozens of lawn signs still available in the and he encouraged everyone to show their support.

"Please take them and begin displaying them again as we begin this process again of public participation for the application hearings," he said. "We will look forward to an expeditious review."

But not all in the county are supportive of a new hospital. Englewood Hospital and Medical Center has opposed the idea from the beginning, saying another hospital is unnecessary.

"Evidence supports that since the closure of Pascack Valley Hospital, Englewood Hospital and other non-profit hospitals in Bergen County have absorbed the closed hospital's patient volume, the overall number of inpatients in Bergen County continues to decline, the county has more than adequate inpatient bed capacity and new emergency facilities at EHMC and other Bergen County hospitals have sharply decreased inpatient volumes," said Spokeswoman Maria Margiotta. "The only basis for the commissioner's decision to consider reopening Pascack Valley Hospital is political demand and pressure. Political and profit-driven motivations do not justify a certificate of need, nor should they be the factors driving healthcare facility planning in this region."

The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood Spokeswoman Megan Fraser said there is no need for a hospital in Westwood, explaining there are five hospitals within 12 miles of Westwood.

"We also maintain that opening a new hospital in Bergen County will have a devastating effect on the county’s healthcare system, causing harm to hospitals that today are delivering high quality care to the communities they serve," Fraser said. "The quantity, location and size of hospitals are part of a deliberative planning process that is meant to benefit all New Jersey residents, not favor one area over another."

HUMC asking the organization to consider allowing a full hospital on the former Pascack Valley Hospital site. That request was .