BAYONNE — RWJ Barnabas Health, which opened a new medical center on 24th Street and Broadway in Bayonne in June, was approved as a Satellite Emergency Department (SED) according to the NJ Department of Health. The center still needs final licensing approval.
The three-story, 80,000- square-foot medical facility includes an imaging center, retail pharmacy, pediatric center, primary care services, women’s health services, physical therapy, laboratory drawing station, and now emergency services. The center was constructed to accommodate ambulatory services through its rear entrance.
New Jersey state statute stipulates that some medical conditions require acute care hospitals rather than SEDs, such as trauma, critical care, surgery, laboratory testing, advanced radiology, childbirth, psychiatric illness, and other complex medical conditions. However, SEDs provide much of the same medical services as conventional emergency departments.
Last year, RWJ Barnabas applied for a waiver to be designated as a satellite emergency department (SED). The company had to prove its facility will either replace a closed full-service emergency room in the area or “substantially mitigate problems of access to appropriate emergency care affecting a community or communities,” according to the statute that defines SEDs.
CarePoint Health announced in November that it is planning, pending DOH approval, to open nine SEDs: in the Greenville section of Jersey City, Downtown Jersey City, Union City, and North Bergen; four in Bergen County, and one in Clifton, Passaic County. According to its 40-page presentation, CarePoint hopes to “improve” the region’s “capacity and access” to various emergency services with more outpatient centers.
CarePoint Health, which operates three hospitals in Hudson County, has been openly opposed to a SED coming to Bayonne. It has criticized the planned SED as redundant because CarePoint has its own emergency room and has accused RWJ Barnabas of being negligent for choosing Bayonne over other areas of Hudson County in need of emergency services, such as the Greenville section of Jersey City.
Today, Kirat Kharode, EVP and Chief Strategy Officer at CarePoint Health said, “CarePoint believes deeply in the principles of population health management. Our Satellite Emergency Departments will help address significant actual health care needs in Northern New Jersey by improving quality and reducing costs through appropriately enhancing access to care.”
Last June, CarePoint stopped accepting Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (BCBS), a major health insurance provider in the state, but is inching closer to coming back into the insurance company’s network, according to a report from NJ Biz. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) still requires insurance companies to cover emergency care at any hospital, which can result in high out-of-pocket costs for patients, depending on their insurance coverage.
When asked about its SED application, RWJ Barnabas said in a statement in June, “Hudson County has experienced the highest rate of population growth estimated from 2010 to 2016, and future growth is expected for this area. With the increasing numbers of residents, Jersey City Medical Center remains committed to assuring access to emergency and urgent care services. Our current Emergency Department capacity has been strained with volume at 150 percent of our capacity. We have seen a double digit increase in Emergency Department visits by Bayonne residents along with increases in the central and southern Hudson County market. With the planned Satellite Emergency Department, we are looking forward to improved access to services for those current residents seeking care, as well as future members of the community.”
