Editorial: The Betrayal of Christ Hospital
Taken from The Jersey City Times
By Jersey City Times Editorial Board
September 27, 2025
Well, it’s happened. Christ Hospital is once again on life support, and the prognosis isn’t good.
In a Friday afternoon press release, the hospital’s new owner, Hudson Regional Health, announced that without substantial state aid, the 153-year-old hospital, recently renamed Heights University Hospital, would likely be shuttered.
“Despite over $300 million in investments in just 10 months, with a major portion dedicated to Heights University Hospital, it was determined in recent days after a thorough analysis, that the facility is unable to avoid continued financial distress,” said HRH CEO Dr. Nizar Kifaieh. The hospital, according to Kifaieh, is losing $60 million a year and will require government funding to remain open.
This should only come as a surprise to those who believed Secaucus-based HRH and its principal local booster, Mayor Steven Fulop, when they assured the public that an HRH takeover out of bankruptcy would secure Christ Hospital’s survival. After all, HRH’s management was riven by scandal. Fulop’s political action committee had received millions in donations from HRH and CarePoint.
But it’s worth remembering what they said. HRH promised “improvements and upgrades to services at each of the facilities,” including Christ Hospital. A spokesperson for HRH told the Times, “Jersey City, as the seat of the county, will be a major part of our build-out.”
The mayor predicted a bright future for the Palisade Avenue institution that provides care to many of the county’s most vulnerable patients. “From the start of this process, my objective has been to ensure that residents of Jersey City and Hudson County have access to quality healthcare,” he said. “I am confident that Friday’s court ruling is a critical step toward achieving this objective, and we remain committed to working with Hudson Regional Hospital’s leadership team to ensure Christ Hospital remains a vital resource for our community.”
Fulop hasn’t been alone in his support for HRH. Earlier this month, Hoboken Mayor and fellow CarePoint board member, Ravi Bhalla wrote a fawning Op-Ed that sounded like the product of HRH’s comms team. “HRH and its leadership truly are unsung heroes of healthcare in Hudson County,” he gushed. Its leadership had a “bold new vision” for healthcare that would serve “everyone, from the uninsured to the insured, from those living at the poverty level to the wealthy, and everyone in-between.”
How quickly things change. It’s not hard to see why.
HRH appears to have achieved its objectives: control of the remaining CarePoint hospitals and an opportunity to participate in the residential development of Christ Hospital’s land with Manhattan views. Fulop got what he needed: money for his ill-fated run for governor and a narrative that made him appear to care in front of voters.
Now, barring a bailout from the state, it will fall to Fulop’s successor to explain why the city stood by as its safety net hospital went under.