1 1 NEW JERSEY STATE HEALTH PLANNING BOARD HOLIDAY INN 2 300 PLAZA DRIVE SECAUCUS, NEW JERSEY 3 4 OCTOBER 19, 2017 6:10 PM 5 6 7 THE PUBLIC HEARING OF: 8 THE APPLICATION FOR 9 CERTIFICATE OF NEED 10 FOR THE TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OF MEADOWLANDS 11 HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER 12 13 14 B E F O R E: JOHN CALABRIA, CHAIR 15 CONNIE BENTLEY-McGHEE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
2 1 INDEX 2 SPEAKER: PAGE: 3 Chief Joseph Shoendorf 6 4 Captain Joseph Baccola 7 5 Dr. Bellifemine 8 6 Ms. Ina Weinstein 8 7 Ms. Ann Twomey 9 8 Ms. Kathi Fonti 12 9 Ms. Donna Marie Belmonte 13 10 Ms. Keri Eglentowicz 14 11 Councilman Robert Costantino 15 12 Ms. Felicia Karsos 17 13 Ms. Sara Rodrigues 18 14 Ms. Veronica Castrillon 20 15 Mr. Munir Quadri 22 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
3 1 MR. CALABRIA: Good evening, ladies and 2 gentlemen, I'd like to get the public hearing 3 started. My name is John Calabria. I'm Director 4 of Certificate of Need and Healthcare Facility 5 Licensing at the New Jersey Department of Health. 6 This is a public hearing -- well, I should also 7 add we're expecting a member or two of the full 8 State Health Planning Board to come. This is an 9 actual state -- it's not a department hearing, 10 it's a State Health Planning Board hearing. 11 This is a public hearing of the State 12 Health Planning Board in relation to the transfer 13 of ownership of Meadowlands Hospital Medical 14 Center. The department deemed the application 15 complete. And in accordance with the requirements 16 of law, the State Health Planning Board is 17 required to hold a public hearing on this 18 application within 30 days of that action. 19 Adequate notice of this hearing has been 20 published in accordance with the provisions of 21 N.J.S.A. 26:2H-18.8. Notice was sent to the 22 Secretary of State who posted the notice in a 23 public place. Copies of the hospital's CN 24 application are available for review at the 25 Secaucus Public Library, the New Jersey State
4 1 Library in Trenton, and the Department of Health. 2 Information gathered at this hearing 3 will be reviewed by the State Health Planning 4 Board in addition to reviewing the application 5 from the hospital and the department staff 6 analysis and recommendations in a public meeting. 7 Although not all members of the State 8 Health Planning Board are present this evening, 9 this meeting is being transcribed. And the 10 transcript, along with any written comments 11 submitted tonight, will be made available to all 12 board members, along with the transcript and 13 written submissions prior to the meeting to review 14 this application. There will also be limited time 15 available at the State Health Planning Board 16 meeting to hear from members of the public. At 17 that meeting, the applicant will present the 18 application and answer any questions the board 19 members may have. 20 In the interest of making efficient use 21 of the time for tonight's hearing, each speaker 22 will be limited to three minutes, as long as I can 23 make this thing work. If you have longer 24 comments, please provide a copy to me. I'll put 25 it right here and I'll make sure they get to the
5 1 board and they'll be added to the public record. 2 Anyone interested in speaking tonight 3 should -- besides singing in on the sheet, and 4 putting the check mark on the right side of the 5 sign-in form that they want to speak. Anyone who 6 wants to submit written comments after tonight's 7 hearing and before the board meeting, which is on 8 November 2nd in Trenton, is certainly urged to do 9 so. Written comments must be submitted no later 10 Thursday, October 26th, and should be addressed 11 the State Health Planning Board in care of the New 12 Jersey Department of Health. 13 For those who may be unfamiliar with the 14 certificate of need process, the State Health 15 Planning Board will vote on a recommendation as to 16 the decision on this application, which will be 17 submitted to the Commissioner of Health. The 18 State Health Planning Board hearing is the part of 19 the certificate of need process. And your 20 comments will be considered as we review issues 21 related to health planning, hospital and health 22 related services and access to healthcare 23 services. Your comments are an important part of 24 this process, and will be considered along with 25 the materials submitted by the applicant.
6 1 The board can recommend approval of the 2 application, approval with conditions, or denial 3 of the application before it on November 2nd. And 4 this recommendation is to the Commissioner and the 5 Commissioner will make the final decision on the 6 application after the board makes its 7 recommendation. 8 As usual, in a public hearing, we do 9 give priority for speaking to public officials. 10 And I understand there are at least a couple here 11 today. I think the first one I see is Joseph 12 Shoendorf. If you will speak your name, spell 13 your name for court reporter. 14 CHIEF SHOENDORF: Battalion Chief Joseph 15 W. Shoendorf, Secaucus Fire Department. I just 16 would like to come here tonight and from the 17 bottom of my heart, let everybody know that the 18 Town of Secaucus needs and deserves an acute 19 hospital facility and EMS service. We worked with 20 them before in the past, over the years, up until 21 present. And we look forward to working with them 22 as well in the future. So hopefully we can get 23 this done. Thank you. 24 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. The next is 25 Joseph Baccola.
7 1 CAPTAIN BACCOLA: Good evening, Captain 2 Joseph Baccola, Secaucus Police Department. The 3 first thing I want to say I'm here on behalf of 4 Chief Kevin Flaherty, who couldn't make it 5 tonight. The police department and the hospital 6 has always had a tremendous working relationship. 7 Anything the police department has needed, we've 8 always been provided with the hospital and vice 9 versa. 10 The hospital provides an essential 11 essential service, which is emergency medical 12 dispatch. That helps alleviate a tremendous 13 burden on the police department. In addition, 14 they also provide EMS service, which obviously is 15 extremely important for first responders. Again, 16 extremely important. And just to stress, again, 17 the tremendous relationship between the hospital 18 and the Secaucus Police Department. That's it. 19 Thank you. 20 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Is there any 21 other public official that came in? Elected 22 official? If not, we'll go down the list here. 23 Is there someone here, an M.D., doctor something, 24 I can't read it. I have bad handwriting, too, but 25 I can't read this.
8 1 DR. BELLIFEMINE: Sometimes I can't read 2 my own handwriting. That's why we went to EMR. 3 My name is Dr. Bellifemine, the chief medical 4 officer of Meadowlands Hospital. And I just 5 wanted to say that I'd like to send out my 6 appreciation as far as, as a member of the medical 7 staff and speaking for the medical staff, to the 8 current administration for their support and their 9 commitment to making Meadowlands Hospital a 10 quality healthcare facility. And speaking for, 11 again, the medical staff, we look forward to 12 working with the new administration to continue 13 striving to make Meadowlands a quality medical 14 center. Thank you. 15 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Here's other 16 one I can't read. But the under title is IT, I 17 think it's the hospital. Did somebody sign in 18 with under the title of IT? I really can't see 19 the name. It looks like it begins with an L. As 20 you come forward, please say your name and spell 21 it for the court reporter, please. 22 MS. WEINSTEIN: My name is Ina 23 Weinstein, W-E-I-N-S-T-E-I-N. First of all, I 24 want to say I'm not a public speaking person. I'm 25 working with IT in Meadowlands Hospital for six
9 1 years. And it's a pleasure to come and work with 2 people that work together as one big family. So 3 I'm a little nervous. But every day, to come and 4 work with people that cooperate, like a team, 5 together, makes our work much better. Hopefully, 6 we'll continue like that. Thank you. 7 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. This one, I 8 can mostly read. Emma Rebhorn? 9 MS. REBHORN: Yes, but I didn't say I 10 wanted to speak. 11 MR. CALABRIA: Ann Twomey. 12 MS. TWOMEY: So I'm Ann Twomey, I'm 13 president of the Health Professionals and Allied 14 Employees, which is the union that represents the 15 nurses, technicians and service workers at the 16 hospital. And I want to start off by raising some 17 concerns that we have about the process itself. 18 First of all, we think that the -- we 19 believe that the certificate of need process has 20 been incorrectly deemed to be complete. And I'm 21 going to explain why -- by the way, I have a 22 written statement, which will go into more detail 23 than what I'm going to be able to say to you 24 tonight, time-wise. 25 And we urge the Department of Health to
10 1 refrain from considering the proposed sale until 2 the application is truly complete. The department 3 has erred and should require MHA, the applicant, 4 to submit the audited financial statements from 5 2014, '15, and '16. There's been a profound lack 6 of financial transparency, as characterized by 7 MHA's dealings with the Department of Financial 8 Transparency was a condition of the sale back in 9 2010. And to go forward, the department must 10 obtain the audited financial statements in order 11 to properly evaluate the true financial status of 12 the hospital and whether or not projections to 13 sustain a fully functioning hospital is possible. 14 It appears that the department and maybe 15 even the prospective buyer have not -- are not 16 fully aware to the extent -- are not fully aware 17 of the extent of the hospital's assets, 18 liabilities, revenues, revenue sources, expenses. 19 And in order to responsibly evaluate the operating 20 projections set out in the CN application or the 21 value of included and excluded assets as set out 22 in the asset purchase agreement, this information 23 is absolutely necessary. 24 And then there's a question we have, 25 loans were promised in the application, but have
11 1 these loans been guaranteed? And there was also 2 reference to a repurchasing of the land from 3 RosDev. And that was indicated that it could 4 happen in September, but there's no indication 5 whether it has or has not happened or whether it 6 will. 7 MR. CALABRIA: 30 seconds. 8 MS. TWOMEY: Okay. So we have listed -- 9 in the event that the department goes forward, 10 we've listed what about five -- we have about nine 11 recommendations as conditions. And that is that 12 should it be granted, this Meadowlands Medical 13 Center, NJ MHMC should continue as an acute care 14 hospital for no less than seven years. 15 That the buyer agree to retain the 16 employees, maintain their benefits as they were to 17 be at the time when it was sold in 2010, and the 18 standards be honored. 19 That the services provided by the 20 hospital, including clinical, in-patient, 21 community health programs be continued, also 22 monitored for seven years. 23 And including health insurance coverage. 24 Again, I want to mention that under the term of 25 the current employer, they unilaterally changed
12 1 the health insurance. We would expect that the 2 health insurance be continued, as per statute, but 3 also under the level that it was initially agreed 4 to be covered by. 5 There should be additional reporting. 6 There should be compliance with federal 7 and EMTALA requirements. 8 And there should be annual reports on 9 investments at the hospital and accounting of any 10 long, short-term debt, and other liabilities 11 incurred on the hospital's behalf. 12 And there should also be audited 13 financial statements required of the buyer. 14 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. 15 MS. TWOMEY: Thank you. 16 MR. CALABRIA: Katie Fonti, is it? 17 MS. FONTI: Hi, name is Kathi Fonti and 18 I am the manager of ICU and telemetry at 19 Meadowlands Hospital. I'm here to support the 20 hospital because they have done nothing but try to 21 provide quality care to the community. They've 22 also supported me in my education. They have -- 23 I'm a doctorally prepared nurse that they have on 24 the clinical level, so that they can provide as 25 much quality care to the patient's as they can.
13 1 We are on the cutting edge of patient care, 2 providing everything we can for the patient. This 3 is only because of a supportive Meadowlands 4 Hospital organization. No other hospital in this 5 area has that kind of nursing staff and that kind 6 of quality at the patient level. If it wasn't for 7 them, I wouldn't be here and they wouldn't have 8 supported the whole endeavor for the patients. 9 Quality is what they want and what they get. And 10 I'm here to support them. Thank you. 11 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Donna Marie 12 Belmonte. If you can just give your name and 13 spell it for the... 14 MS. BELMONTE: D-O-N-N-A M-A-R-I-E 15 B-E-L-M-O-N-T-E. 16 Good evening, I'm here as a resident of 17 Secaucus and I'm here to basically mention to you 18 the care that my family and I have received at the 19 Meadowlands Hospital, okay. The nurses and the 20 staff have displayed an extraordinary amount of 21 empathy and kindness throughout all the time my 22 family has been there. 23 My mom, many of you might know her, just 24 recently passed away. And all that they displayed 25 was their gentle touch especially. What I'd also
14 1 like to say is that they -- as difficult as their 2 day might have been, they might have had a very, 3 very grueling shift, they always found the time to 4 take the patient -- to take patient and take care 5 of my mother as well as my husband. I have been a 6 patient there many times myself as well. However, 7 I never complain. Just my husband and my mother 8 do, they're very, very needy people, not I. 9 And I just want to express how thankful 10 I am to the staff at the hospital. Thank you. 11 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Could someone 12 at the back do me a favor, this sheet is finished. 13 Was there any more people who signed in back 14 there? I'd appreciate if you could bring the top 15 sheet. Just the top sheet. Keep the others back 16 there in case someone else comes in that wants to 17 speak. Thank you, I appreciate that. 18 There's a lot of names on this sheet, 19 but only two people checked they wanted to speak. 20 We already got Ann. I can't read the last name 21 here, begins with an M-U it looks like, the first 22 name. Does anybody else want to speak? Please 23 come up. 24 MS. EGLENTOWICZ: Maybe I checked the 25 wrong box. Keri Eglentowicz, K-E-R-I, last name
15 1 E-G-L-E-N-T-O-W-I-C-Z. And also Robert 2 Costantino, C-O-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O. 3 Good evening. My name is Keri 4 Eglentowicz, I'm the town attorney for Secaucus. 5 I'm here tonight on behalf of Mayor Michael 6 Gonelli, who unfortunately did get stuck in a lot 7 of traffic coming back from New York this 8 afternoon. Mayor Gonelli is the mayor of the host 9 community for Meadowlands Hospital. Also present 10 with me is Councilman Robert Costantino. The goal 11 of my presence today on behalf of the Mayor, as a 12 town leader, would be to enure that the facility 13 remains an active hospital for the community with 14 the best of services and the continued ambulance 15 and EMS response that we are currently receiving 16 at a high quality. 17 Having close and quick access to medical 18 care and their doctors is critically important for 19 all of our residents and for visitors to the Town 20 of Secaucus. And we hope that remain the priority 21 of this hospital. Thank you. 22 MR. COSTANTINO: If I could just add to 23 that, forgive my appearance, I didn't think I 24 would be speaking. But everything that Keri just 25 mentioned is -- was the dream of a Dr. Cavalli,
16 1 who started the Meadowlands Hospital many, many 2 years ago and my father who was the chairman of 3 the board for fifteen years. 4 So this town is asking to -- that you 5 guys remain, you know, what their dream was, an 6 acute medical facility and a community hospital. 7 The staff, any time that I've ever used them, 8 ironically, my dad passed away in the hospital 9 that he loved. And my children were born in that 10 same hospital. And any time that I've ever had or 11 needed care, the staff has been better than they 12 should have been. 13 So I just want to echo everything that 14 Keri said and please beg of the new owners to keep 15 it the way it should be and to honor everybody 16 who's been a part of it for so long, including the 17 community. Thank you. 18 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Anyone else 19 in the audience that would like to come up and say 20 a few words? 21 Well, we published this public hearing 22 to be from 6 to 7, or when the public comment is 23 finished, whichever is later. So we'll stay to at 24 least 7. Ma'am, you just came, do you want to 25 speak?
17 1 AUDIENCE MEMBER: No, I just walked in. 2 MR. CALABRIA: Well, we've run out of 3 speakers so far then. So we'll be here to at 4 least 7. So we're going to adjourn until somebody 5 comes that wants to speak or until 7 o'clock. 6 Thank you. 7 8 (Whereupon a short recess was taken.) 9 10 MR. CALABRIA: We have Felicia Karsos 11 who would like to speak. 12 MS. KARSOS: Good evening, everyone. My 13 name is Felicia Karsos, I've been with Meadowlands 14 for seven years, since the last transition. I 15 came in as the chief nursing officer, and most 16 recently as the chief executive officer. 17 During that time, I've had the privilege 18 of working with a staff that is dedicated and 19 committed to medicine, many of who have been there 20 since Meadowlands first opened its doors as a 21 hospital over 35 years ago, which I think is real 22 testament to the commitment that our staff has to 23 the facility. 24 I would like to just express personally 25 and I think I speak for myself as well my
18 1 leadership team, that we are very excited to have 2 the opportunity to work with the new prospective 3 owner on revitalizing Meadowlands Hospital. I 4 believe strongly that working together, the 5 community, the staff, leadership, we can achieve 6 the continued success of Meadowlands Hospital as a 7 hospital. And that's -- I'll leave you with that. 8 I strongly am in favor of the transition. Thank 9 you. 10 MR. CALABRIA: And Sara Rodrigues. 11 MS. RODRIGUES: Thank you. Good evening 12 I'm Sara Rodrigues, I'm one of the nurses at 13 Meadowlands Hospital. And I am fulfilling a 14 request from another coworkers of ours who is ill 15 today and could not be here. So she's asked for 16 me to convey her message. The nurse is Christine 17 Mazurkiewicz. 18 MR. CALABRIA: Could you spell that, 19 please? 20 MS. RODRIGUES: M-A-Z-U-R-K-O-W-I-C-Z. 21 AUDIENCE MEMBER: M-A-Z-U-R-K-I-E-W-I-C-Z. 22 MS. RODRIGUES: All right. The hospital 23 benefits the community and has for the past 40 24 years by providing services that other hospitals 25 within a 20 minute drive also provide. However
19 1 patients have to drive through North Bergen, Union 2 City, and Jersey City, to reach them. Or sit in 3 traffic to get to Hackensack Medical Center where 4 you wait -- you have to wait to be admitted. This 5 adds to the length of travel to actually get 6 there. 7 Also the new construction of the Mall of 8 America, the carnivals that are held there at the 9 facilities there at the Meadowlands Exposition 10 Center, the racetrack and football games and 11 summer concerts makes the roads even more 12 impassable. 13 Meadowlands Hospital offers private 14 rooms, free parking, satellite TV and internet. 15 75 percent of the nurses there have been there for 16 20 years or more and have that many years of 17 nursing experience. We were a full service 18 hospital until the current owner stopped accepting 19 and negotiating fees with other insurance 20 companies. 21 So I'm sure that we're hoping that with 22 this new prospective buyer that things can be 23 turned around and we get more clientele, more 24 patients, and provide better service. Thank you. 25 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Anyone else
20 1 want to speak in? We'll pause the hearing until 7 2 p.m. 3 4 (Whereupon a short recess was taken.) 5 6 MR. CALABRIA: We have another speaker, 7 so we're going to reconvene the public hearing and 8 we're going to -- the speaker is Veronica 9 Castrillon and she would like to say a few words 10 to the audience. 11 MS. CASTRILLON: Good evening. Can you 12 hear me? So my name is Veronica Castrillon and 13 I'm one of the patients. I've been in the 14 hospital a few times, my dad he was there back in 15 2012. He almost died. Thank God that the 16 hospital was very close by. Fortunately for him 17 and for us, there were -- they save, Dr. Tsenovoy 18 was there and they save and the nurses and other 19 doctors his life. 20 So all I want to say today is nothing 21 but good words about the hospital. My experience 22 in the hospital excellent, everything is perfect, 23 no complaints. 24 Every time that I have any questions, 25 all the questions being answered, the doctor is
21 1 always there. One of the characteristics about 2 the doctor, especially Dr. Tsenovoy, is that he 3 spend a lot of time with the patients, with my 4 dad. He explained everything from A to Z. The 5 facilities, I love it. Every time that I go to 6 the ER, clean. They are fast. 7 I don't want else to say other than it's 8 a great hospital. I don't go to any other 9 hospital. I work in Wayne, there's a great 10 hospital there, Saint Joseph, I believe. I'd 11 rather just come here because it's close by also. 12 Very friendly staff, nothing is wrong with the 13 hospital. And all I have to say is thank you for 14 everything and just keep up the good work. 15 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you. 16 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Is there 17 anyone else in the audience that feels they would 18 like to speak after all this time? We have a few 19 minutes, so we'll adjourn for a few moments and 20 then come on at seven o'clock or if somebody comes 21 before then. 22 23 (Whereupon a short recess was taken.) 24 25 MR. CALABRIA: Ladies and gentlemen,
22 1 we'll get back on the record, we have another 2 gentleman who would like to speak. Munir Quadri. 3 MR. QUADRI: Good evening. My name is 4 Munir Quadri. I'm a patient of -- actually I was 5 having heart attack in 2012 and they rushed me to 6 the hospital. And I was very sick, about to die. 7 They treat me very well, especially Dr. Tsenovoy 8 was there. And he treat me like a family and I'm 9 alive, you know. So thank God and thanks to the 10 hospital? That's all I want to say. Thank you. 11 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you. 12 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you. Anyone else? 13 14 (Whereupon a short recess was taken.) 15 16 MR. CALABRIA: Ladies and gentlemen, 17 although by my watch 7, we didn't start until 10 18 after, so we'll stay until 10 after. 19 MS. BENTLEY-McGHEE: Good evening, can 20 you hear me? Okay. I'm Connie Bentley-McGhee, 21 one of the members of the State Health Planning 22 Board. I'm sorry I was so seriously delayed 23 tonight and I missed your comments. I look 24 forward to the transcript. And I'm just saying 25 that I'm here. Thank you.
23 1 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you. 2 MR. CALABRIA: Ladies and gentlemen, as 3 I mentioned at the beginning, this hearing was 4 scheduled from 6 to 7 or the end of testimony, 5 whichever is later. Is there anyone else who 6 would like to speak? 7 Since we started at 10 after 6, it's now 8 10 after 7, so I will adjourn the hearing, with 9 Connie's permission and thank you for coming. 10 MS. BENTLEY-McGHEE: Thank you. 11 MR. CALABRIA: Thank you everyone for 12 coming and speaking. 13 (The hearing was concluded.) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
24 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 4 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a 5 true and accurate transcript of the testimony and 6 proceedings as taken stenographically by me at the 7 time, place, and on the date hereinbefore set 8 forth. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 C:\TinyTran\Susan Bischoff.bmp 16 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR 17 LICENSE NO. 30XI00233700 18 DATED: October 26, 2017 19