Published on NorthJersey.com, Tuesday, April 28,2009
[HUMC, Coniglio, Sanzari, Bergen Dems, PMK, more]
Sanzari got years to pay his dumping bill
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Last updated: Tuesday April 28, 2009, 10:07 AM
BY JEFF PILLETS
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
Firms owned by Joseph Sanzari, the prominent contractor with deep ties to Bergen County's ruling Democratic Party, dumped fill and construction debris at the Overpeck Park site for two years without being charged, while other haulers paid by the truckload.
The firms dumped well over 100,000 cubic yards of debris at the county-owned site before Bergen County officials even sent a bill, in October 2007.
Sanzari's trucks by that time had been coming to Overpeck since the spring of 2005 and had run up a $609,000 tab, delivering thousands of loads from publicly financed road and redevelopment jobs across North Jersey.
Scores of other haulers, by contrast, paid tipping fees as often as 10 times a month, records show, with most paying two or three times a month.
Even after Sanzari began to make payments, records show he maintained a significant balance. In fact, his companies still owed $320,000 in tipping fees when The Record first started to ask questions about the matter earlier this month. County officials said that Joseph M. Sanzari Inc. made payments of $150,000 and $18,000 the week of April 13. A second firm, Creamer-Sanzari, A Joint Venture, paid $152,000 last Friday.
Bergen County's failure to collect from Sanzari's companies came at a time when officials were struggling to finance skyrocketing expenses associated with the Overpeck project. More than $100 million in bond offerings and open-space tax reserves have already been dedicated to the project site in Leonia, Teaneck and Ridgefield Park, where a former garbage dump is being converted into what officials promise will be "Bergen County's Central Park."
Those officials are now declining to discuss details of their dealings with Sanzari, a leading Democratic contributor who is also the employer of state Sen. Paul A. Sarlo of Wood-Ridge.
The Bergen County Improvement Authority, which has responsibility for the project, said it was not equipped to keep tabs on such a large undertaking. The quasi-governmental agency outsourced oversight for the project to PMK Group, a politically connected project-management firm.
"There's basically a staff of three people over there," Keith Furlong, a BCIA spokesman, said last week. "They rely on hired professionals to do the oversight."
Furlong, in a prepared statement, said Overpeck truckers "occasionally" make late tipping-fee payments. "This is typical during such a large construction project," he said.
He added that the agency has full faith in the work of PMK of Cranford, which has received $6.7 million since being hired as project manager in 2005.
In a brief interview before issuing the statement, Furlong said he could not explain why the agency had waited more than two years to collect payments from one of Overpeck's major fill suppliers. He did not respond to further questions this week.
PMK officials also did not respond to requests for interviews last week. Discussing the issue earlier this month, PMK executive Bashar Assadi said the county, not PMK, made all decisions about the haulers who dumped at Overpeck.
"We aren't bill collectors," said Assadi, PMK's lead man at the Overpeck site. "We tell the county if someone owes, and after that it is up to them."
BCIA records show that all Overpeck documents, including billing invoices, are signed by Executive Director Edward Hynes. In addition to its $140,000-a-year chief, the BCIA has a board of directors that has approved a range of expensive add-ons that have pushed the project's price tag past $70 million, from a $45 million cost estimate just two years ago.
Neither Hynes nor BCIA Chairman Ronald O'Malley returned phone calls for this story.
Sanzari's office also declined to discuss their record at Overpeck. But in a statement released last Friday, a company official said the county sent Sanzari's firms only two tipping-fee bills in the past four years.
"As of today Joseph M. Sanzari Inc. and its affiliated companies does not owe any money to the BCIA," said Jo Ann M. Dellechiaie, the company's vice president. "At all times during the project, [Sanzari companies] followed all protocols regarding testing, sampling and invoicing as established by PMK Engineering."
She said that the Sanzari firms — which have supplied about 15 percent of all Overpeck fill — have paid as much per cubic yard as other haulers who dumped at Overpeck, and sometimes more.
Sanzari, of Ho-Ho-Kus, and his construction firms enjoy a reputation for timely completion of complex public projects, including the successful reconstruction of the once-snarled intersection of Routes 4 and 17.
He also is known as one of New Jersey's most visible pay-to-play contractors, one with deep ties to officials who set state policy and make key spending decisions. State records attribute more than $100,000 in contributions to New Jersey candidates and committees since 2006 to Joseph M. Sanzari Inc. and those associated with the firm.
Between 2006 and 2008, his companies were awarded more than $380 million in public contracts.
As the chief operating officer of Sanzari's construction firm, Sarlo has a direct role overseeing the firm's multimillion-dollar dealings with state and local public agencies. His work includes the endorsement of bid documents and the review of expenses in public projects.
Sarlo also had his Trenton aide, Chris Eilert, sign some Sanzari company documents as a witness. Eilert said he is a notary public and any signature for Sarlo's company was probably done "over dinner" with Sarlo, off government property.
Sarlo says his employment by Sanzari does not conflict with his part-time job in Trenton, where he sits as a majority member of key committees that control state spending on construction projects. He declined to speak about Sanzari's record at Overpeck.
"I'm not really allowed to say anything," Sarlo said.
Sarlo declined to respond when informed of data that show J. Fletcher Creamer of Hackensack, Sanzari's partner in the Joint Venture, made frequent and regular payments to the county for material trucked in by a firm he owns separate from Sanzari.
Overpeck project records show that in the fall of 2007, Sarlo stepped in to stop the county from an attempt to collect some of the money owed by Sanzari's companies.
In a letter to the BCIA, PMK had recommended that the county withhold $200,000 it owed to another Sanzari-related firm, North Bergen Rock Products, for clean rocks used at the Overpeck site.
But in conversations with PMK, the records show, Sarlo successfully argued that the county could not withhold payment because North Bergen Rock, legally, is a separate company.
Asked if the county challenged Sarlo's interpretation or sought any further negotiation on the debt, a PMK official said he was uncertain what happened next, if anything.
"Sarlo told us we couldn't deduct the payment and, as far as I know, that was the end of the matter," said Assadi, the project manager.
North Bergen Rock Products lists its business address as 90 W. Franklin St., Hackensack. It is the same address as Joseph M. Sanzari Inc., and at least two other Sanzari companies.
Overpeck project invoices show that the county does not have records detailing how much material Sanzari's crews trucked in from the Carlstadt project. An Oct. 31, 2007, letter shows that the Overpeck project manager instead estimated the amount once it was already in place, noting that it was spread over 6 acres to a depth of about 4 feet.
E-mail: pillets@northjersey.com
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Showing posts with label Hospitals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hospitals. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Hackensack UMC - Record - Deep Dem Connections
Published on NorthJersey.com, Sunday, April 26,2009
Tangled web of power: Hospital's influence reaches far
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Last updated: Sunday April 26, 2009, 11:43 AM
BY MARY JO LAYTON
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
The trial of former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio, convicted in a bribery scandal involving Hackensack University Medical Center, exposed the hospital’s reach into the State House — and put a spotlight on the wealthy, influential men who serve as the hospital’s power brokers.
Hackensack’s board members have connections and political muscle that extend far beyond the hospital. At black-tie fund-raisers and dinners at board member Joseph Sanzari’s Stony Hill Inn, business — hospital and otherwise — is on the agenda.
Various board members help to underwrite Bergen County’s Democratic machine and powerful lawmakers in Trenton. They’re awarded many of the region’s public construction contracts. They have the network — and the money — to smooth over zoning issues for the hospital. Testimony at the trial this month showed they supported the hiring of Coniglio, who was convicted of steering millions in grants to Hackensack while on the hospital’s payroll.
"A political machine" is how Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas R. Calcagni described the hospital as he told jurors about Hackensack’s relationships with former acting governor and Senate President Richard Codey, state Sen. Paul Sarlo, Coniglio and others during the trial.
"There are board members who could pick up the phone and call the governor and say, ‘I need help on this,’ " Coniglio’s defense lawyer, Gerald Krovatin, said at the trial.
The hospital’s most powerful board members include major contractors Sanzari and J. Fletcher Creamer Jr., whose political roots run as deep as their wallets. Joseph Simunovich, who rose up through the Hudson County political arena to become chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and a fund-raiser for Sen. Bob Menendez, is also a key member of the hospital’s inner circle of decision makers. With their help, John P. Ferguson, the hospital’s president and CEO, has taken what was once a community hospital and built it into a $1 billion enterprise — the busiest and, in many ways, the best hospital in the state.
But while Hackensack’s board members are generous donors — and prolific fund-raisers — some are also making money off the hospital. It’s a practice that is frowned upon by health care experts and outright banned at some hospitals in North Jersey, where officials say it crosses an ethical line.
A few examples from the hospital’s federal tax filings for 2007, the latest available:
* Companies owned by Sanzari and Creamer are building a 975-car garage as part of the $135 million cancer center now under construction. Creamer was paid more than $475,000 by the hospital for construction services.
* The hospital paid more than $2 million to Progenitor Cell Therapy, a private stem cell research company owned in part by Ferguson; Dr. Andrew Pecora, director of the cancer center; board members Peter C. Gerhard, George T. Croonquist and Samuel Toscano Jr.; and the hospital’s chief operating officer, Robert C. Garrett.
* The hospital paid $2.5 million to lease space from Sanzari 2001, where board member David Sanzari — Joseph’s cousin — is a managing member with an ownership stake. It also spent $68,000 at the Marriott at Glenpointe hotel, which is owned by David Sanzari’s family.
* The DeCotiis law firm, one of the most influential in the state, made more than $1 million from the hospital. It is representing the hospital in the Coniglio case and guiding its campaign to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. During that time, Frank Huttle III, a partner, served on the board. He said Friday that he resigned recently.
* Universal Health, which operates a retail pharmacy at the hospital, received $200,000. At the time, Toscano was the company’s chief executive officer.
‘Squeaky clean’ is the goal
These types of arrangements trouble expert Jamie Orlikoff, who said hospitals nationally are moving away from allowing trustees to serve if they do business with their hospital.
"It doesn’t pass the smell test," said Orlikoff, a national adviser on governance and leadership to the American Hospital Association.
"When you govern a hospital, you’re governing the most important asset in the community," he said. "You should be squeaky clean."
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center had its general counsel step down from the board to avoid any conflict, said Douglas Duchek, the hospital’s president. Other than doctors, no other board members are being paid by the institution, he said.
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, is so concerned about the potential for abuse that she introduced a bill in October that requires boards to disclose any potential or perceived conflict of interest. The bill also would require hospitals to solicit bids in awarding any contract for more than $25,000.
"If board members themselves are also making a profit from their association, that information should be fully divulged,’’ she said. "We can actually look at what’s grown up to be cozy relationships and decide whether they’re appropriate."
Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle, D-Englewood, sponsored the bill in the Legislature. Her husband is Frank Huttle, who said he resigned from the board because of time constraints.
Screen of privacy
Despite all the public money that goes to the hospital, it’s considered a private institution. Board meetings are closed and contracts are not disclosed. That makes it difficult to paint a full picture of the business of running the hospital.
The hospital has offered little in the way of comment since the Coniglio trial began. On Friday afternoon, however, it released this statement:
"Community-based institutions throughout the nation rely on the support of local civic and business leaders who serve on their governing boards. Members of the Hackensack University Medical Center board of governors are generous with their time and their financial support, but more importantly have gained the skills to govern a complex institution such as ours. An independent, nationally recognized authority on not-for-profit governance has counseled HUMC for more than five years. The HUMC board’s best practices model includes a rigorous annual disclosure statement and ongoing education. This conflicts of interest policy is enforced by a dedicated committee of the board of governors."
The Record called Creamer, Sanzari, Ferguson, Toscano and other board members for this article, but only one, Simunovich, would speak.
Simunovich said he was "saddened" by the Coniglio verdict, but said board members were not involved in hiring the senator.
"We didn’t sign off on him," he said Thursday. "Board members don’t hire or fire."
He said he had been in Florida and hadn’t paid attention to the trial. "All I got was a phone call that he was found guilty," he said.
There are "no politicians that I know of [on the board]," Simunovich said. "You certainly do have corporate representation, and of course you have people we count on for their advice and guidance."
He did not respond to a question about the possible ethical tightrope walked by board members who do business with the hospital.
Big winners in grant race
The Coniglio trial served as a primer on the backroom politics of New Jersey, where certain grants, known as "Christmas tree items," were doled out based on who has "the juice." By all accounts, Hackensack mastered the game and loomed large in Trenton. From 2004 to 2006, the hospital received $17.4 million for its cancer center, an extra $9 million in charity care above the millions it was already getting and $250,000 for the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. A $900,000 research grant was awarded to the private stem cell firm at the hospital and $70,000 went for a seat belt study.
Those awards dwarf the grants given to Hackensack’s competitors. The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, for instance, took in less than $1 million a year in both state and federal grants during that time, according to the hospital’s tax filings.
Robert L. Torre, a hospital vice president who was given immunity to serve as the government’s star witness, testified that Ferguson authorized Coniglio’s hiring. Torre, who testified that he didn’t need Coniglio, said that after a conference call with Simunovich, Joseph Sanzari and Ferguson, it was clear Coniglio would be hired.
Coniglio, a former plumber, was paid $103,900 between May 2004 and February 2006 for a low-show "community relations" job at Hackensack. "Hackensack’s personal senator," as he was called at the trial, got a $500-a-month raise after the hospital received checks for state grants, prosecutors said.
But the trial showed the hospital’s reach went further than one legislator. Coniglio’s defense attorney said that Torre had "played Joe Coniglio like a fiddle" to get to Codey. A Dec. 13, 2005, report from Torre to his board of trustees credited Codey, in his role as acting governor, for a $9 million award for the cancer center, and noted $3 million of that grant would be earmarked for The Maureen Fund, established in honor of Codey’s aide, to fight ovarian cancer.
Weight to throw around
The power Hackensack wields comes as no surprise to other hospital executives.
"The trial hasn’t showed us anything we didn’t know. It’s not a level playing field," Duchek said. Englewood and Valley are battling Hackensack’s plan — and its considerable P.R. machine — to open a 128-bed hospital in Westwood, which they say could significantly harm the finances of other hospitals in the region.
Besides its board and its members’ connections, Hackensack has weight to throw around because it is Bergen County’s biggest business and one of the state’s top 10 employers. It boasts marquee physicians providing care that rivals that of the nation’s best hospitals.
Hackensack University Medical Center ranks high in nearly every national and state assessment of patient care. Founded in 1888 with 12 beds and as Bergen County’s first hospital, it now has 775 beds and 7,200 employees.
Its fund raising is the envy of the other hospitals in the region. Benefactors include Don Imus and his wife, Deirdre. Even in these tough times, the Hackensack University Medical Foundation reported a staggering $25.3 million in donations last year.
Hackensack’s president, Ferguson, is ranked 12th — just behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — in Modern Healthcare’s list of the most influential health care leaders in the nation.
The 60-year-old Park Ridge resident’s name came up often at the trial as the omnipotent boss involved in every decision. He was never charged or called to testify.
But the case may not be over for the hospital. When asked why hospital executives weren’t charged, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Brown said the investigation is continuing. "I think heads at HUMC should roll," jury foreman Walter Palkocki said. "Their culpability is significant."
Influential roles
At Hackensack, a few names — Simunovich, Ferguson, Sanzari, Creamer — keep showing up in influential roles on key boards. They serve as trustees of the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, the hospital’s fund-raising arm, as well as the hospital’s board of governors and Hillcrest Health Service System, the hospital’s parent corporation. Leading contractors and developers — Sanzari, Creamer and John C. Fowler — are on the building committee.
During the trial, a large photo of Simunovich seated next to Codey at a hospital fund-raiser was shown to jurors as an example of his access and influence.
In his closing statement, Coniglio’s attorney credited Simunovich and Sanzari with snaring a $500,000 state grant for the hospital without the help of lobbyists or legislators.
Simunovich is the former chairman of the board of governors and current chairman of the board of trustees for the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, the hospital’s fund-raising arm.
Simunovich, the former president of United Water Management and Services, was a Hudson County freeholder for 12 years, three as chairman. He served under three governors on the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and is the former chairman of the Bergen County Economic Development Corp., serving along with Ferguson and Creamer. The corporation was later part of a movement to create a bio-tech development area near the hospital.
Governor Corzine did not reappoint Simunovich to the Turnpike Authority in 2007 after he was investigated by the State Ethics Commission; as chairman, he had voted on millions in public contracts that were awarded to Sanzari while he accepted free rides on the contractor’s private jet. Simunovich paid a $50,000 fine, which was not an admission of guilt.
"Mr. Simunovich’s actions do not reflect the standards demanded by the governor for those who serve in his administration," Corzine’s then-spokesman Anthony Coley said.
During that probe, critics pointed out that a company run by Simunovich’s son-in-law landed a contract in 2005 to renovate a thrift shop run by the auxiliary of the hospital’s foundation. Torre said at the time that Simunovich had nothing to do with that decision.
Big contributor
Joseph Sanzari serves as first vice chairman, the No. 2 position on the hospital’s board of governors.
He’s a generous hospital contributor: He and his wife gave $10 million to the children’s and women’s hospital that bears their names. Just days before the trial began, Sanzari contributed an additional $1 million to Hackensack.
Sanzari, who started his business with two trucks and a backhoe, is a leader in highway construction. His companies have taken in more than $380 million in three years through contracts with public agencies, including the Turnpike Authority, Xanadu, and other entities, according to the pay-to-play databank prepared by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. The Ho-Ho-Kus resident is such a prominent contractor that he was once serenaded by Luciano Pavarotti at a builders’ event in his honor.
Sanzari is part owner of both the Stony Hill Inn in Hackensack and the New Bridge Inn in New Milford, popular hangouts for Bergen County’s political elite. Sanzari, his companies and employees have contributed more than $100,000 to political campaigns and political action committees in the past three years, according to data the company provided to state elections regulators.
Among his top employees is state Sen. Paul Sarlo, also the mayor of Wood-Ridge. Sarlo oversees billions in public spending as a lead member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he also controls key appointments to state agencies that have awarded millions in contracts to Sanzari’s firms.
Sarlo, chief operating officer for Sanzari’s construction company, testified at the trial that he was largely responsible for getting the $900,000 grant for the hospital’s cancer center. He said he also lobbied Codey for the $9 million cancer center grant and played a role in the $900,000 grant for stem cell research at the hospital.
Deep connections
J. Fletcher Creamer Jr., the chairman of the hospital’s board of governors and vice chairman of the foundation board, also has deep connections in Bergen County.
J. Fletcher Creamer & Son Inc. received more than $84 million in public contracts in Bergen County and elsewhere in New Jersey from 2006 to 2008. The company contributed $152,185 to candidates or committees last year, according to ELEC’s pay-to-play Web site.
Like the Sanzaris, Creamer family members are significant contributors to the hospital: Hackensack’s trauma center bears the name of Jeffrey M. Creamer, the late brother of the current board chairman.
Frank Huttle — who is running for mayor in Englewood — is a partner in the Teaneck-based DeCotiis law firm, whose senior management includes chief counsels to two former governors and has a client roster that ranges from EnCap Golf and Xanadu to scores of public entities. Two partners in the firm attended the Coniglio trial virtually every day to represent the hospital.
Federal tax filings for 2007 identify several other board members who work for companies that do business with the hospital. For instance, the hospital paid North Jersey Media Group, The Record’s parent company, $371,255 for advertising in 2007. Jennifer Borg, vice president and general counsel, serves on the hospital’s boards.
In tax filings, the hospital notes: "Any goods purchased or services performed are done so at fair market value rates pursuant to arms length negotiations." The hospital’s bylaws require members of the board to tell the hospital of potential conflicts of interest and to abstain from voting on such issues, but that information — and even the votes — are not public.
Power over local decisions
Hackensack’s power, its money and its vast web of connections isn’t just in Trenton. It also reaches into the local level and into Washington:
* When the hospital wanted to build a new cancer center over the objections of residents, it turned to Scarinci & Hollenbeck, the influential firm where then-Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero was a partner. Two of the city’s five council members at the time were members of the county Democratic committee, a third was once a member, and a fourth had a job with the county. A political action committee run by the medical center had once donated thousands to this political team. In addition to those connections, the hospital paid the city $1 million and promised to take over its daytime ambulance services. Ferriero, who is now under federal indictment for conspiracy to commit fraud, notarized the deal, which was witnessed by Sanzari.
* Less than a week after the Bergen freeholders pledged not to take sides in the battle over whether Hackensack should be allowed to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital, they passed a unanimous resolution supporting Hackensack. That meeting was jammed with construction workers led by Richard "Buzzy" Dressel — a board member of Hackensack’s foundation who also is a leader of the county Democratic Party, the business manager of a local union itching for renovation work at Pascack and a partner in Sanzari’s New Bridge Inn. They grabbed all the seats before the session began, so that employees bused in from opposing hospitals were stuck in an overflow room.
* In Washington, Michael Hutton, a lobbyist who had done work for the hospital’s foundation, hosted a swanky reception to celebrate Menendez’s swearing in at the Senate in 2007. Hackensack hospital was among a handful of groups — including Verizon and AT&T — that funded the private celebration, where Simunovich and other partygoers feasted on shrimp and lobster pasta. When questioned later, Torre conceded that non-profit firms are barred from political activity. But this was not a political event, he said. "It was hosted by a third party," Torre said.
Union leader Ann Twomey said the trial "makes it clear there wasn’t enough oversight’’ at Hackensack.
"It’s a matter of making sure the scarce patient-care dollars are going to where they belong and that it’s not being influenced by those who are in the greatest position of power — the board of trustees," said Twomey, president of the Health Professional & Allied Employees, a union that represents employees at several area hospitals.
Twomey said Weinberg’s proposed legislation should outright ban trustees from doing any business with their hospital.
At The Valley Hospital, just one board member — its chairman, the president of a hospital supply company — does business with the hospital, said hospital President Audrey Meyers.
The chairman, Vincent Forlenza, who works at Becton, Dickinson and Co., does not participate in any decisions about purchasing supplies, she said.
The hospital directly bought $83,000 worth of supplies from the company and paid an additional $1.6 million as part of a group purchasing program, Meyers said.
"The Valley Hospital does not allow trustees to do business with the hospital unless a trustee works for a company where the value of our business is insignificant to that company," she said.
Others agree that hospitals need to stay away from mixing business with service on the board.
In the public’s mind, if a contractor who serves on the board is the successful bidder, there may be a perception of insider dealing, Orlikoff said.
"It’s exactly this sticky, one-hand-washes-the-other-hand mess you’re trying to avoid," he said.
Staff Writers Peter J. Sampson, Lindy Washburn, Mike Kelly, Jeff Pillets, Bob Groves and James M. O’Neill contributed to this article. E-mail: layton@northjersey.com
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Tangled web of power: Hospital's influence reaches far
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Last updated: Sunday April 26, 2009, 11:43 AM
BY MARY JO LAYTON
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
The trial of former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio, convicted in a bribery scandal involving Hackensack University Medical Center, exposed the hospital’s reach into the State House — and put a spotlight on the wealthy, influential men who serve as the hospital’s power brokers.
Hackensack’s board members have connections and political muscle that extend far beyond the hospital. At black-tie fund-raisers and dinners at board member Joseph Sanzari’s Stony Hill Inn, business — hospital and otherwise — is on the agenda.
Various board members help to underwrite Bergen County’s Democratic machine and powerful lawmakers in Trenton. They’re awarded many of the region’s public construction contracts. They have the network — and the money — to smooth over zoning issues for the hospital. Testimony at the trial this month showed they supported the hiring of Coniglio, who was convicted of steering millions in grants to Hackensack while on the hospital’s payroll.
"A political machine" is how Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas R. Calcagni described the hospital as he told jurors about Hackensack’s relationships with former acting governor and Senate President Richard Codey, state Sen. Paul Sarlo, Coniglio and others during the trial.
"There are board members who could pick up the phone and call the governor and say, ‘I need help on this,’ " Coniglio’s defense lawyer, Gerald Krovatin, said at the trial.
The hospital’s most powerful board members include major contractors Sanzari and J. Fletcher Creamer Jr., whose political roots run as deep as their wallets. Joseph Simunovich, who rose up through the Hudson County political arena to become chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and a fund-raiser for Sen. Bob Menendez, is also a key member of the hospital’s inner circle of decision makers. With their help, John P. Ferguson, the hospital’s president and CEO, has taken what was once a community hospital and built it into a $1 billion enterprise — the busiest and, in many ways, the best hospital in the state.
But while Hackensack’s board members are generous donors — and prolific fund-raisers — some are also making money off the hospital. It’s a practice that is frowned upon by health care experts and outright banned at some hospitals in North Jersey, where officials say it crosses an ethical line.
A few examples from the hospital’s federal tax filings for 2007, the latest available:
* Companies owned by Sanzari and Creamer are building a 975-car garage as part of the $135 million cancer center now under construction. Creamer was paid more than $475,000 by the hospital for construction services.
* The hospital paid more than $2 million to Progenitor Cell Therapy, a private stem cell research company owned in part by Ferguson; Dr. Andrew Pecora, director of the cancer center; board members Peter C. Gerhard, George T. Croonquist and Samuel Toscano Jr.; and the hospital’s chief operating officer, Robert C. Garrett.
* The hospital paid $2.5 million to lease space from Sanzari 2001, where board member David Sanzari — Joseph’s cousin — is a managing member with an ownership stake. It also spent $68,000 at the Marriott at Glenpointe hotel, which is owned by David Sanzari’s family.
* The DeCotiis law firm, one of the most influential in the state, made more than $1 million from the hospital. It is representing the hospital in the Coniglio case and guiding its campaign to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. During that time, Frank Huttle III, a partner, served on the board. He said Friday that he resigned recently.
* Universal Health, which operates a retail pharmacy at the hospital, received $200,000. At the time, Toscano was the company’s chief executive officer.
‘Squeaky clean’ is the goal
These types of arrangements trouble expert Jamie Orlikoff, who said hospitals nationally are moving away from allowing trustees to serve if they do business with their hospital.
"It doesn’t pass the smell test," said Orlikoff, a national adviser on governance and leadership to the American Hospital Association.
"When you govern a hospital, you’re governing the most important asset in the community," he said. "You should be squeaky clean."
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center had its general counsel step down from the board to avoid any conflict, said Douglas Duchek, the hospital’s president. Other than doctors, no other board members are being paid by the institution, he said.
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, is so concerned about the potential for abuse that she introduced a bill in October that requires boards to disclose any potential or perceived conflict of interest. The bill also would require hospitals to solicit bids in awarding any contract for more than $25,000.
"If board members themselves are also making a profit from their association, that information should be fully divulged,’’ she said. "We can actually look at what’s grown up to be cozy relationships and decide whether they’re appropriate."
Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle, D-Englewood, sponsored the bill in the Legislature. Her husband is Frank Huttle, who said he resigned from the board because of time constraints.
Screen of privacy
Despite all the public money that goes to the hospital, it’s considered a private institution. Board meetings are closed and contracts are not disclosed. That makes it difficult to paint a full picture of the business of running the hospital.
The hospital has offered little in the way of comment since the Coniglio trial began. On Friday afternoon, however, it released this statement:
"Community-based institutions throughout the nation rely on the support of local civic and business leaders who serve on their governing boards. Members of the Hackensack University Medical Center board of governors are generous with their time and their financial support, but more importantly have gained the skills to govern a complex institution such as ours. An independent, nationally recognized authority on not-for-profit governance has counseled HUMC for more than five years. The HUMC board’s best practices model includes a rigorous annual disclosure statement and ongoing education. This conflicts of interest policy is enforced by a dedicated committee of the board of governors."
The Record called Creamer, Sanzari, Ferguson, Toscano and other board members for this article, but only one, Simunovich, would speak.
Simunovich said he was "saddened" by the Coniglio verdict, but said board members were not involved in hiring the senator.
"We didn’t sign off on him," he said Thursday. "Board members don’t hire or fire."
He said he had been in Florida and hadn’t paid attention to the trial. "All I got was a phone call that he was found guilty," he said.
There are "no politicians that I know of [on the board]," Simunovich said. "You certainly do have corporate representation, and of course you have people we count on for their advice and guidance."
He did not respond to a question about the possible ethical tightrope walked by board members who do business with the hospital.
Big winners in grant race
The Coniglio trial served as a primer on the backroom politics of New Jersey, where certain grants, known as "Christmas tree items," were doled out based on who has "the juice." By all accounts, Hackensack mastered the game and loomed large in Trenton. From 2004 to 2006, the hospital received $17.4 million for its cancer center, an extra $9 million in charity care above the millions it was already getting and $250,000 for the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. A $900,000 research grant was awarded to the private stem cell firm at the hospital and $70,000 went for a seat belt study.
Those awards dwarf the grants given to Hackensack’s competitors. The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, for instance, took in less than $1 million a year in both state and federal grants during that time, according to the hospital’s tax filings.
Robert L. Torre, a hospital vice president who was given immunity to serve as the government’s star witness, testified that Ferguson authorized Coniglio’s hiring. Torre, who testified that he didn’t need Coniglio, said that after a conference call with Simunovich, Joseph Sanzari and Ferguson, it was clear Coniglio would be hired.
Coniglio, a former plumber, was paid $103,900 between May 2004 and February 2006 for a low-show "community relations" job at Hackensack. "Hackensack’s personal senator," as he was called at the trial, got a $500-a-month raise after the hospital received checks for state grants, prosecutors said.
But the trial showed the hospital’s reach went further than one legislator. Coniglio’s defense attorney said that Torre had "played Joe Coniglio like a fiddle" to get to Codey. A Dec. 13, 2005, report from Torre to his board of trustees credited Codey, in his role as acting governor, for a $9 million award for the cancer center, and noted $3 million of that grant would be earmarked for The Maureen Fund, established in honor of Codey’s aide, to fight ovarian cancer.
Weight to throw around
The power Hackensack wields comes as no surprise to other hospital executives.
"The trial hasn’t showed us anything we didn’t know. It’s not a level playing field," Duchek said. Englewood and Valley are battling Hackensack’s plan — and its considerable P.R. machine — to open a 128-bed hospital in Westwood, which they say could significantly harm the finances of other hospitals in the region.
Besides its board and its members’ connections, Hackensack has weight to throw around because it is Bergen County’s biggest business and one of the state’s top 10 employers. It boasts marquee physicians providing care that rivals that of the nation’s best hospitals.
Hackensack University Medical Center ranks high in nearly every national and state assessment of patient care. Founded in 1888 with 12 beds and as Bergen County’s first hospital, it now has 775 beds and 7,200 employees.
Its fund raising is the envy of the other hospitals in the region. Benefactors include Don Imus and his wife, Deirdre. Even in these tough times, the Hackensack University Medical Foundation reported a staggering $25.3 million in donations last year.
Hackensack’s president, Ferguson, is ranked 12th — just behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — in Modern Healthcare’s list of the most influential health care leaders in the nation.
The 60-year-old Park Ridge resident’s name came up often at the trial as the omnipotent boss involved in every decision. He was never charged or called to testify.
But the case may not be over for the hospital. When asked why hospital executives weren’t charged, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Brown said the investigation is continuing. "I think heads at HUMC should roll," jury foreman Walter Palkocki said. "Their culpability is significant."
Influential roles
At Hackensack, a few names — Simunovich, Ferguson, Sanzari, Creamer — keep showing up in influential roles on key boards. They serve as trustees of the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, the hospital’s fund-raising arm, as well as the hospital’s board of governors and Hillcrest Health Service System, the hospital’s parent corporation. Leading contractors and developers — Sanzari, Creamer and John C. Fowler — are on the building committee.
During the trial, a large photo of Simunovich seated next to Codey at a hospital fund-raiser was shown to jurors as an example of his access and influence.
In his closing statement, Coniglio’s attorney credited Simunovich and Sanzari with snaring a $500,000 state grant for the hospital without the help of lobbyists or legislators.
Simunovich is the former chairman of the board of governors and current chairman of the board of trustees for the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, the hospital’s fund-raising arm.
Simunovich, the former president of United Water Management and Services, was a Hudson County freeholder for 12 years, three as chairman. He served under three governors on the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and is the former chairman of the Bergen County Economic Development Corp., serving along with Ferguson and Creamer. The corporation was later part of a movement to create a bio-tech development area near the hospital.
Governor Corzine did not reappoint Simunovich to the Turnpike Authority in 2007 after he was investigated by the State Ethics Commission; as chairman, he had voted on millions in public contracts that were awarded to Sanzari while he accepted free rides on the contractor’s private jet. Simunovich paid a $50,000 fine, which was not an admission of guilt.
"Mr. Simunovich’s actions do not reflect the standards demanded by the governor for those who serve in his administration," Corzine’s then-spokesman Anthony Coley said.
During that probe, critics pointed out that a company run by Simunovich’s son-in-law landed a contract in 2005 to renovate a thrift shop run by the auxiliary of the hospital’s foundation. Torre said at the time that Simunovich had nothing to do with that decision.
Big contributor
Joseph Sanzari serves as first vice chairman, the No. 2 position on the hospital’s board of governors.
He’s a generous hospital contributor: He and his wife gave $10 million to the children’s and women’s hospital that bears their names. Just days before the trial began, Sanzari contributed an additional $1 million to Hackensack.
Sanzari, who started his business with two trucks and a backhoe, is a leader in highway construction. His companies have taken in more than $380 million in three years through contracts with public agencies, including the Turnpike Authority, Xanadu, and other entities, according to the pay-to-play databank prepared by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. The Ho-Ho-Kus resident is such a prominent contractor that he was once serenaded by Luciano Pavarotti at a builders’ event in his honor.
Sanzari is part owner of both the Stony Hill Inn in Hackensack and the New Bridge Inn in New Milford, popular hangouts for Bergen County’s political elite. Sanzari, his companies and employees have contributed more than $100,000 to political campaigns and political action committees in the past three years, according to data the company provided to state elections regulators.
Among his top employees is state Sen. Paul Sarlo, also the mayor of Wood-Ridge. Sarlo oversees billions in public spending as a lead member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he also controls key appointments to state agencies that have awarded millions in contracts to Sanzari’s firms.
Sarlo, chief operating officer for Sanzari’s construction company, testified at the trial that he was largely responsible for getting the $900,000 grant for the hospital’s cancer center. He said he also lobbied Codey for the $9 million cancer center grant and played a role in the $900,000 grant for stem cell research at the hospital.
Deep connections
J. Fletcher Creamer Jr., the chairman of the hospital’s board of governors and vice chairman of the foundation board, also has deep connections in Bergen County.
J. Fletcher Creamer & Son Inc. received more than $84 million in public contracts in Bergen County and elsewhere in New Jersey from 2006 to 2008. The company contributed $152,185 to candidates or committees last year, according to ELEC’s pay-to-play Web site.
Like the Sanzaris, Creamer family members are significant contributors to the hospital: Hackensack’s trauma center bears the name of Jeffrey M. Creamer, the late brother of the current board chairman.
Frank Huttle — who is running for mayor in Englewood — is a partner in the Teaneck-based DeCotiis law firm, whose senior management includes chief counsels to two former governors and has a client roster that ranges from EnCap Golf and Xanadu to scores of public entities. Two partners in the firm attended the Coniglio trial virtually every day to represent the hospital.
Federal tax filings for 2007 identify several other board members who work for companies that do business with the hospital. For instance, the hospital paid North Jersey Media Group, The Record’s parent company, $371,255 for advertising in 2007. Jennifer Borg, vice president and general counsel, serves on the hospital’s boards.
In tax filings, the hospital notes: "Any goods purchased or services performed are done so at fair market value rates pursuant to arms length negotiations." The hospital’s bylaws require members of the board to tell the hospital of potential conflicts of interest and to abstain from voting on such issues, but that information — and even the votes — are not public.
Power over local decisions
Hackensack’s power, its money and its vast web of connections isn’t just in Trenton. It also reaches into the local level and into Washington:
* When the hospital wanted to build a new cancer center over the objections of residents, it turned to Scarinci & Hollenbeck, the influential firm where then-Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero was a partner. Two of the city’s five council members at the time were members of the county Democratic committee, a third was once a member, and a fourth had a job with the county. A political action committee run by the medical center had once donated thousands to this political team. In addition to those connections, the hospital paid the city $1 million and promised to take over its daytime ambulance services. Ferriero, who is now under federal indictment for conspiracy to commit fraud, notarized the deal, which was witnessed by Sanzari.
* Less than a week after the Bergen freeholders pledged not to take sides in the battle over whether Hackensack should be allowed to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital, they passed a unanimous resolution supporting Hackensack. That meeting was jammed with construction workers led by Richard "Buzzy" Dressel — a board member of Hackensack’s foundation who also is a leader of the county Democratic Party, the business manager of a local union itching for renovation work at Pascack and a partner in Sanzari’s New Bridge Inn. They grabbed all the seats before the session began, so that employees bused in from opposing hospitals were stuck in an overflow room.
* In Washington, Michael Hutton, a lobbyist who had done work for the hospital’s foundation, hosted a swanky reception to celebrate Menendez’s swearing in at the Senate in 2007. Hackensack hospital was among a handful of groups — including Verizon and AT&T — that funded the private celebration, where Simunovich and other partygoers feasted on shrimp and lobster pasta. When questioned later, Torre conceded that non-profit firms are barred from political activity. But this was not a political event, he said. "It was hosted by a third party," Torre said.
Union leader Ann Twomey said the trial "makes it clear there wasn’t enough oversight’’ at Hackensack.
"It’s a matter of making sure the scarce patient-care dollars are going to where they belong and that it’s not being influenced by those who are in the greatest position of power — the board of trustees," said Twomey, president of the Health Professional & Allied Employees, a union that represents employees at several area hospitals.
Twomey said Weinberg’s proposed legislation should outright ban trustees from doing any business with their hospital.
At The Valley Hospital, just one board member — its chairman, the president of a hospital supply company — does business with the hospital, said hospital President Audrey Meyers.
The chairman, Vincent Forlenza, who works at Becton, Dickinson and Co., does not participate in any decisions about purchasing supplies, she said.
The hospital directly bought $83,000 worth of supplies from the company and paid an additional $1.6 million as part of a group purchasing program, Meyers said.
"The Valley Hospital does not allow trustees to do business with the hospital unless a trustee works for a company where the value of our business is insignificant to that company," she said.
Others agree that hospitals need to stay away from mixing business with service on the board.
In the public’s mind, if a contractor who serves on the board is the successful bidder, there may be a perception of insider dealing, Orlikoff said.
"It’s exactly this sticky, one-hand-washes-the-other-hand mess you’re trying to avoid," he said.
Staff Writers Peter J. Sampson, Lindy Washburn, Mike Kelly, Jeff Pillets, Bob Groves and James M. O’Neill contributed to this article. E-mail: layton@northjersey.com
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Muhlenberg - Courier - Green airs differences with Solaris
Published in the Courier News, Thursday, September 4, 2008
Plainfield, Solaris air differences at Muhlenberg meeting
By MARK SPIVEY
STAFF WRITER
The State Department of Health and Senior Services is attempting to mediate a series of disputes between the city of Plainfield and Solaris, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center's parent company, regarding the recent closure of the 131-year-old hospital.
Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard met with Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Union, and officials from Plainfield and Solaris in Trenton on Wednesday in a session that lasted nearly three hours — the talks revolving around disagreements regarding some of the 18 conditions outlined by Howard in a written decision released in late July approving Solaris' certificate of need to close the hospital.
"They got to discuss a variety of concerns centering around the (certificate of need)," said department spokeswoman Donna Leusner, "And she (Howard) is working with both parties to resolve the issues."
Those issues include a dispute over the adequacy of schedules for transportation to other medical facilities supplied by Solaris to city residents, plus the lack of a "watchdog" entity to ensure the conditions for closure continue to be met by the company, two topics that, according to Green, dominated the meeting. The assemblyman said he believed that without tangible amendments to the original approval of the certificate of need, the city would lean toward filing a formal appeal of Howard's decision, the deadline for which Green said is next week.
"I would say right now that I'm more inclined (to believe an appeal is pending), because there's so much mistrust there. I would say unless the commissioner makes these adjustments, there's a good opportunity that the city would appeal," Green said. "If she doesn't render a decision in a favorable way, there's going to be a problem, but I want to give her the benefit of the doubt first."
Leusner said her department was aware of the possibility for such an appeal. Yesterday's meeting was the second in three weeks to include the commissioner, Green, and Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs in discussing the hospital, which city officials have said was vital to the community. Solaris has cited massive financial struggles stemming from low patient volumes, high rates of charity-care patients, and continuing state and federal reimbursement cuts for such patients as reasons for closing the hospital, the annual losses for which officials have said were approaching $20 million.
Solaris spokesman Steven Weiss characterized yesterday's meeting as being positive, expressing optimism that its eventual outcome could prove agreeable to both his company and the Plainfield community.
"The meeting itself was really a beneficial and healthy dialogue between the interested parties," Weiss said. "They're (the Department of Health) going to look at what can be done to look at some of the conditions to see if they can simplify some of them to make them more beneficial to the community."
Weiss said yesterday's meeting also touched on the hot-button issue of the possible sale of the hospital or parts of the hospital grounds. Green and others have accused Solaris of being uncooperative with prospective buyers, but Weiss said his company explained during the meeting that such transactions are complicated.
"We were clarifying the parameters that our investment bankers use for the sale," Weiss said. "There are a lot of specifics when it comes from turning a nonprofit (facility) into a for-profit."
Weiss added that Solaris remains willing to listen to any offers for parts of the 17-acre campus. Green has said he knows of no fewer than four interested parties.
"We remain open to being approached," Weiss said.
Yesterday's meeting originally set up as a showdown between Green and Solaris over the possible approval by the state of nearly $170 million in bonds for the financially distressed health-care company, funds that the assemblyman last week said he hoped to get the state to defer pending the city's grievances being addressed.
Green softened his stance slightly yesterday, saying Solaris officials spent part of the meeting emphasizing the fact that the denial of the bonds in question could spell financial disaster. The matter was originally due to come before the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority on Aug. 28, but was postponed, although the case now appears on the authority's Web site under a list of pending business with a decision date yet to be set.
"They were pleading their case, and they made it very clear that without financing in place, all the things we're talking about, including employees, (could be in jeopardy)," Green said. "Without that revenue needed for Solaris to get in good financial shape, then it could be a crisis for them. That's why it's important it should be give-and-take on both sides — they have financial concerns, we have health concerns."
Mark Spivey can be reached at mspivey@mycentraljersey.com or 908-707-3144.
Online story here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Plainfield, Solaris air differences at Muhlenberg meeting
By MARK SPIVEY
STAFF WRITER
The State Department of Health and Senior Services is attempting to mediate a series of disputes between the city of Plainfield and Solaris, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center's parent company, regarding the recent closure of the 131-year-old hospital.
Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard met with Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Union, and officials from Plainfield and Solaris in Trenton on Wednesday in a session that lasted nearly three hours — the talks revolving around disagreements regarding some of the 18 conditions outlined by Howard in a written decision released in late July approving Solaris' certificate of need to close the hospital.
"They got to discuss a variety of concerns centering around the (certificate of need)," said department spokeswoman Donna Leusner, "And she (Howard) is working with both parties to resolve the issues."
Those issues include a dispute over the adequacy of schedules for transportation to other medical facilities supplied by Solaris to city residents, plus the lack of a "watchdog" entity to ensure the conditions for closure continue to be met by the company, two topics that, according to Green, dominated the meeting. The assemblyman said he believed that without tangible amendments to the original approval of the certificate of need, the city would lean toward filing a formal appeal of Howard's decision, the deadline for which Green said is next week.
"I would say right now that I'm more inclined (to believe an appeal is pending), because there's so much mistrust there. I would say unless the commissioner makes these adjustments, there's a good opportunity that the city would appeal," Green said. "If she doesn't render a decision in a favorable way, there's going to be a problem, but I want to give her the benefit of the doubt first."
Leusner said her department was aware of the possibility for such an appeal. Yesterday's meeting was the second in three weeks to include the commissioner, Green, and Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs in discussing the hospital, which city officials have said was vital to the community. Solaris has cited massive financial struggles stemming from low patient volumes, high rates of charity-care patients, and continuing state and federal reimbursement cuts for such patients as reasons for closing the hospital, the annual losses for which officials have said were approaching $20 million.
Solaris spokesman Steven Weiss characterized yesterday's meeting as being positive, expressing optimism that its eventual outcome could prove agreeable to both his company and the Plainfield community.
"The meeting itself was really a beneficial and healthy dialogue between the interested parties," Weiss said. "They're (the Department of Health) going to look at what can be done to look at some of the conditions to see if they can simplify some of them to make them more beneficial to the community."
Weiss said yesterday's meeting also touched on the hot-button issue of the possible sale of the hospital or parts of the hospital grounds. Green and others have accused Solaris of being uncooperative with prospective buyers, but Weiss said his company explained during the meeting that such transactions are complicated.
"We were clarifying the parameters that our investment bankers use for the sale," Weiss said. "There are a lot of specifics when it comes from turning a nonprofit (facility) into a for-profit."
Weiss added that Solaris remains willing to listen to any offers for parts of the 17-acre campus. Green has said he knows of no fewer than four interested parties.
"We remain open to being approached," Weiss said.
Yesterday's meeting originally set up as a showdown between Green and Solaris over the possible approval by the state of nearly $170 million in bonds for the financially distressed health-care company, funds that the assemblyman last week said he hoped to get the state to defer pending the city's grievances being addressed.
Green softened his stance slightly yesterday, saying Solaris officials spent part of the meeting emphasizing the fact that the denial of the bonds in question could spell financial disaster. The matter was originally due to come before the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority on Aug. 28, but was postponed, although the case now appears on the authority's Web site under a list of pending business with a decision date yet to be set.
"They were pleading their case, and they made it very clear that without financing in place, all the things we're talking about, including employees, (could be in jeopardy)," Green said. "Without that revenue needed for Solaris to get in good financial shape, then it could be a crisis for them. That's why it's important it should be give-and-take on both sides — they have financial concerns, we have health concerns."
Mark Spivey can be reached at mspivey@mycentraljersey.com or 908-707-3144.
Online story here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Monday, April 21, 2008
Hospitals - Ledger - Report on hospital closings
Finances focus of hospital report
State trying to devise way to aid most 'viable'
Friday, January 04, 2008
BY SUE LIVIO AND ANGELA STEWART
Star-Ledger Staff New Jersey's hospitals "are truly in poor financial health," says a long-anticipated state report, which recommends setting up a "distress fund" to provide money to only the most viable and necessary institutions.
The final report of the Commission on Rationalizing Health Care Resources, of which a draft copy was obtained yesterday by The Star-Ledger, points to a glut of hospital beds in Bergen, Essex, Passaic and Hudson counties as the major reason for the poor economic performance of several hospitals in that area of the state.
It identifies two markets with the highest concentration of hospitals lagging the statewide average when it comes to financial viability: the Hackensack/Ridgewood/Paterson area, with 15 hospitals, and Newark/Jersey City, with 16 hospitals.
"An oversupply of beds may be one cause of the financial distress," states the report, dated Dec. 10.
Financial pressures have already led to closings or bankruptcy declarations in that region, and the report warns of more to come.
"Based on the current financial picture, the residents of New Jersey should expect a wave of additional hospitals that will face potential closure in the next few years," the report said.
The 200-page report, which was supposed to be released last year, does not make recommendations on which of the state's 79 acute-care hospitals should be closed, but lays out criteria officials should use in determining which are "essential" and "viable" and deserving of financial support.
Those factors include whether the hospital serves a "vulnerable" population -- such as uninsured and poor patients -- and whether critical services such as trauma care are offered, the report said.
A hospital's overall financial health -- including its profitability, cash on hand and long-term debt to capitalization ratio -- should also be a consideration, the commission said.
Gov. Jon Corzine is expected to use the report to decide which hospitals will get a bigger chunk of the roughly $700 million the state spends each year to treat uninsured patients. The report also is expected to be used to sort out the myriad requests that come from legislators and hospital officials who frequently seek the state's help in bailing out failing hospitals.
The report became a point of contention during yesterday's confirmation hearing of Corzine's nominee for state health commissioner, Heather Howard. Several legislators questioned Howard as to whether the report's release had been held up until after she was approved for the state's top health job.
Howard said yesterday the final version of the report is due out later this month. The 13-member commission -- whose members include economic and health-policy experts, as well as physicians -- was created by Corzine in 2006 with an eye to improving health-care delivery in the state.
Lilo Stainton, a Corzine spokeswoman, yesterday described the report as a work in progress, addressing "an important issue we have been looking at for a long time."
"But a draft is a draft -- the governor hasn't seen it," she said, declining to comment further.
The extra aid the report proposes be targeted to "essential" hospitals would be largely in the form of supplemental Medicaid and charity-care payments. It also wants a separate Distressed Hospital Program to provide aid to those hospitals, with the money to come from an increase in taxes -- from 2.9 percent to 4.5 percent -- on privately run ambulatory care facilities, according to the report.
Future state aid should come with strings attached, the report said, including state oversight and requirements to improve board governance.
Elizabeth Ryan, the incoming president and chief executive of the New Jersey Hospital Association, said while she has not yet seen the report, her members were anxiously awaiting "a game plan" to help alleviate the distress they are experiencing.
"It would be my hope that when they talk about distress funding, they would be talking about new money and not just simply redistributing the (current) money," she said.
About half of the state's acute-care hospitals are operating in the red, and roughly 25 have closed since 1992, according to association officials. Among the latest are Union Hospital, which shut its doors Sept. 30, and Pascack Valley Hospital in suburban Westwood in Bergen County, which closed last month.
Others, such as Bayonne, Barnert in Paterson, Greenville in Jersey City and Saint James and Columbus, both in Newark, are hanging by a thread.
The downward trend in the finances of New Jersey hospitals, the report notes, comes at a time when hospitals nationwide are doing exceptionally well.
"This points to some fundamental problems in the hospital market in New Jersey that must be remedied if hospitals are to regain their footing," the report concludes.
Sue Livio may be reached at slivio@starledger.com or (609) 989-0802; Angela Stewart may be reached at astewart@starledger.com or (973) 392-4178.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
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