Englewood Health and Hackensack Meridian Health Merger - Health Professionals & Allied Employees

Englewood Health and Hackensack Meridian Health Merger

This merger was cancelled, see below under FTC Investigation.

CORPORATE STRUCTURE

Englewood Health (EH) is the parent to Englewood Hospital & Medical Center (EHMC), Englewood Physician Network, and the Englewood Health Foundation. Founded in 1890, it is one of the last independent hospitals in New Jersey.  It has maintained a clinical affiliation with Hackensack Meridian since April 2015, and on October 15, 2019 it was announced that Englewood Health was making a full merger with HMH.

Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) is the largest healthcare system in the state, with three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, and JFK Medical Center; two children’s hospitals – Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital; nine community hospitals – Ocean Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center, Mountainside Medical Center, Palisades Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center Perth Amboy, Raritan Bay Medlical Center Old Bridge, Southern Ocean Medical Center, Bayshore Medical Center, and Pascack Valley Medical Center; two rehabilitation hospitals – JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute and Shore Rehabilitation; and two behavioral health hospitals – Blake Recovery Center and East Mountain School. In addition to seventeen hospitals, HMH has over two hundred subsidiary locations including urgent care centers, doctor practices, imaging centers, and labs.

CN EXEMPTION

Since this was a merger between two non-profit entities, the merger was not required to go through the Department of Health’s Certificate of Need process. In this type of circumstance, the merging parties send a letter to the Office of Certificate of Need and Licensing requesting an exemption. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, the CN office will confirm in a letter that the merger is exempt from participating in the CN process.

HMH sent a letter to NJ DOH requesting a waiver from the CN process on December 4, 2019.

CHAPA PROCESS

When two non-profit health systems announce an intention to merge, they must contact the New Jersey Attorney General’s office and begin the Community Health Assets Protection Act (CHAPA) process. This begins with submission of a Letter of Intent, followed with the AG’s office requesting information and documentation including financial statements, fair value appraisals, board meeting minutes, conflict of interest statements from board members and key employees, any consultant reports, and hierarchy charts. Once the AG’s office is satisfied with the information submitted, it will post an announcement for a public hearing, at which members from the community may speak in favor of or against the proposed merger. The AG’s office writes a recommendation, sending it to the Superior Court, which gives the final approval (or denial) based on the AG’s report.

HIGHLIGHTS: DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT

The EH and HMH Definitive Agreement submitted to the Attorney General’s office included in the post-closing covenants a 10-year commitment to maintain EHMC as an acute care facility, including key clinical service lines: cardiology, neurosciences, vascular surgery, oncology, maternal fetal medicine, neonatology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, behavioral health, and bloodless medicine.

HMH made a substantial financial commitment to EHMC, including: a “bridge loan” that will provide EHMC a line of credit in the amount of $44.5 million; capital investment in Englewood Affiliates of $404.5 million by the eighth anniversary of the closing date; and an additional $5 million in operating funds to EHMC beginning on the third anniversary of the closing date for 7 years thereafter.

The DA states there will be no implementation of reduction of staff for the first year after the closing and recognizes any union contracts. HMH commits to recognizing time of service for eligible employees for participation in HMH benefit plans where the benefit is determined by length of service and seniority.

FTC INVESTIGATION

On December 3, 2020, the FTC announced that it had filed an administrative complaint to block the merger between HMH and Englewood Health, alleging the merger will increase prices and reduce the quality of healthcare. In addition, the FTC  filed a complaint requesting injunctive relief in NJ Federal District Court. The vote by the Commission to issue the administrative complaint and file suit for a preliminary injunction/temporary restraining order was unanimous and bi-partisan, 5-0.

After a May 2021 hearing with U.S. District Judge Michael Vazquez, an opinion was issued on August 4, 2021, granting the preliminary injunction the FTC sought. This means that Englewood and Hackensack Meridian Health must stop any further steps toward merging until a decision is made in the upcoming administrative trial before the FTC in October 2021.

On August 26, 2021, Hackensack Meridian Health and Englewood filed an appeal in the Third Circuit, challenging the opinion made in U.S. District Court. This may cause a delay to the start of the FTC Administrative trial scheduled for October 2021, depending on how quickly the appeal process moves forward.

The U.S. Court of Appeals of the third circuit blocked the merger between Hackensack Meridian Health and Englewood Hospital on March 22, 2022. On April 11, 2022, HMH and Englewood announced they would no longer pursue a merger, so Englewood remains a stand alone hospital.

News

New Jersey hospital to close under proposed deal
Sep 13 2022

St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, N.J., would close and many of its services would be shifted to another hospital if a proposed transaction between Capital Health and Trinity Health is approved, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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New deals coming
Jan 08 2020

Financial pressures and an increasingly competitive market are driving the consolidation of hospitals in New Jersey. While traditional hospital mergers and acquisitions will continue, an uptick in non-traditional alliances will also occur in 2020.

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Bayonne blues
Dec 02 2019

Bayonne Medical Center is looking for a merger partner amid a consolidation wave, but residents worry about losing access to acute care...

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FTC to Study the Impact of COPAs
Oct 23 2019

The Federal Trade Commission issued orders to five health insurance companies and two health systems to provide information that will allow the agency to study the effects of certificates of public advantage (COPAs) on prices, quality, access, and innovation...

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NJ AG recommends Virtua-Lourdes deal move forward
Jul 01 2019

The proposed deal calls for Virtua to acquire Lourdes and its hospitals, Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro and Our Lady of Lourdes in Camden, as well as Lourdes’ nursing school, medical associates and cardiology offices. TRENTON —

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Virtua to Acquire The Lourdes Health System
Jun 07 2018

Taken from the TapInto Camden, June 5, 2018 Camden, NJ—Virtua Health has signed an agreement to acquire Lourdes Health System from Trinity Health, including Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden. The boards of Virtua Health and Maxis Health System, an

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Sale of Meadowlands Hospital Receives Final Approval
Dec 18 2017

The state has approved the sale of Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, the Secaucus hospital where admissions have plummeted under private ownership, to a multimillionaire real-estate developer who owns a Bergen County surgical center. 

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HPAE Raises Concerns About HMH-JFK Merger
Oct 31 2017

Last night a dozen HPAE members and staff attended a public hearing on the affiliation of JFK Medical Center with Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH). If the merger goes through, HMH will own 15 hospitals in the state of New Jersey.

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Merger With Hackensack Health System Completed
Mar 02 2016

Palisades Medical Center and The Harborage are now officially part of the Hackensack Health System. Palisades Medical Center will be called HackensackUMC Palisades. HPAE has issued a press release on the merger, including the following comment from Local 5030 President Michele

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Thats all, folks - no more news!

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