newjerseynewsroom.com

In an effort to ensure that the public has access to critical health care, New Jersey Tuesday awarded $40 million in Health Care Stabilization Fund grants to nine financially distressed hospitals.

Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard said the aid was given to:

St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, $9.5 million; Jersey City Medical Center, $7 million; Christ Hospital in Jersey City, $7 million; Hoboken University Medical Center, $7 million; Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, $4 million, and East Orange General Hospital, $2.5 million.

She said Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Saint Clare's Health System in Boonton, and Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth were awarded $1 million each.

Applications were evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Hospital faced closure or significant reduction of services
• Extraordinary circumstances threatened access to essential health care services for residents in a community
• The hospital serves a significant number of uninsured, underinsured and/or Medicaid patients
• The hospital has demonstrated efforts to make efficiencies and improve facility management
• There is a reasonable likelihood that the health care services funded through the grant will be sustained after the grant funding ends
• Impact of updating Medicaid inpatient rates

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM