Hospital In Jersey City To Close In 2 Weeks, Rather Than Saturday

JERSEY CITY, NJ — The new owners of a hospital in Jersey City's Heights section said they'll keep the Emergency Room — the last part of the facility that's still open — running until at least March 14, rather than shutting it Saturday night as previously planned.

But if the owners, Hudson Regional Health, don't get more funding by March 14, they'll close the ER on that date as well, they said late on Friday.

On Thursday, the company told workers at Heights Regional Hospital, located in Jersey City's Heights section, that they'd close facility completely on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The announcement drew stern responses from Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, council members in the neighborhood, and the union representing nurses and medical workers.

Last November, Hudson Regional Health, which owns three other hospitals in Hudson County, announced that they would close Heights University Hospital — which they renamed from Christ Hospital — but keep the Emergency Room open.

Hudson Regional Health CEO Nizar Kifaieh had said that his company had submitted a certificate to the state to permanently close the 153-year-old facility due to lack of state funding.

Heights University Hospital is located in Jersey City's Heights neighborhood, just up the Palisade hills from Hoboken.

The company, which initially owned just one hospital in Secaucus, took over the facility last fall, as well as hospitals in Hoboken and Bayonne, as part of bankruptcy proceedings.

On Thursday, a union representing medical workers released a statement from their president, Debbie White, RN: “We strongly urge the Department of Health, the governor and the attorney general to step in to save Christ Hospital from being shut down. This employer has repeatedly violated laws and any penalty has failed to dissuade them from taking further illegal action.

"It seems that their business ventures come first even if it may put patients' lives at risk. Our union members and the patients they care for need Governor Sherrill to intervene immediately and take action to stop the closure."

On Friday, Jersey City Mayor James Solomon said, "While this is progress, it is still not acceptable for the residents of the Heights. HRH committed to providing long-term, high-quality health care in the Heights, and an additional two weeks fails to fulfill that promise."

HRH's Statements

"Combined with a variety of challenges including a very low utilization of the Emergency Department, lack of sufficient funding from the state, and in an effort to prevent further multi-million dollar losses from jeopardizing care in Secaucus, Bayonne and Hoboken, leadership last night informed the New Jersey Department of Health of its intention to suspend services as of Saturday, Feb. 28," HRH spokesperson Vijay Chaudhuri had said on Thursday.

But he said that after discussing the matter with city officials, they would try to keep the facility open longer.

On Friday, Chaudhuri released a statement saying, in part, ""Emergency Department services are anticipated to be suspended [March 14, at 7:30 p.m.] unless alternative funding to fund operations are secured through the New Jersey Department of Health, or other sources.

"After requests from Jersey City elected officials and discussions with NJDOH Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington, HRH Chairman Yan Moshe agreed to pay for the costs associated of Emergency Department operations for the next two weeks of approximately $1 million."

Heights University Hospital is still projected to lose more than $30 million this year, Chaudhuri said, even just running the ER and another facility. This follows severe losses of $74 million between November 2024 and December 2025, which could threaten the company's other three Hudson County hospitals, he said.

Chaudhuri also said that they will:

• Relocate existing healthcare workers to Secaucus, Bayonne or Hoboken
• Place an ambulance outside the Heights Emergency Department for two weeks
• Deploy a Mobile Health Unit following that period to provide various levels of care

Earlier Coverage

Council members David Brooks, Thomas Zuppa, and Jake Ephros, who represent wards B, C, and D in the western parts of Jersey City (away from the waterfront), said Thursday, "This decision will hit hardest in the neighborhoods and households that already face the greatest barriers to care: low-income families, seniors, people with disabilities, residents with chronic conditions, and immigrants and mixed-status families who may already be reluctant to seek care until a situation becomes dire."

The hospital is among a shrinking number of facilities that accept Medicaid.

"It will also strain first responders and neighboring hospitals across Hudson County as patient volume and transport times rise," the council members said.

Jersey City Times, which first reported the potential closure on Thursday, had reported last month that HRH was fined for closing the hospital prior to receiving state approval.

City officials had been concerned for months that HRH would close the hospital to build housing. The hospital and its auxiliary buildings sit on land with panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline.

Knew About Finances

HRH has said that the hospital's finances were in a precarious state. Officials and health care workers have argued that HRH knew of the scope of the issues when a judge had allowed HRH to take over the three hospitals back in August.

The city of Hoboken has already floated a potential plan to build residences around its own hospital in order to keep it financially viable.

PAST COVERAGE: New Owners Of Jersey City Hospital Threaten To Suspend Services, Officials Furious