Hospital officials at Monmouth Medical Center gave assurances Friday that the facility would remain a presence in the Long Branch community despite plans to move surgery, inpatient care, and labor and delivery services to a new campus in Tinton Falls.
The move is an effort to expand services and bring care closer to the people who need it, said Eric Carney, president and chief executive officer of Monmouth Medical Center, during a small press conference Friday afternoon.
“When we really started to understand where our patients are originating from, it became very clear that the Vogel Medical Campus was an important part of our future,” said Carney.
For example, an analysis of the hospital’s population revealed that only about 18% of its patients come from the emergency room, compared to an average of 75% throughout RWJ Barnabas Health system, said Carney.
The statistic shows that people aren’t necessarily going to Monmouth Medical Center for its emergency services. Instead, 72% of the patient population is there for three things: surgery, inpatient behavioral health, and maternity care, said Carney.
Meanwhile, Carney added, an architectural assessment of the 13-acre Monmouth Medical Center campus revealed that the current location in Long Branch would not sustain hospital operations for more than a decade.
“As we looked at how we build a modern hospital, the modern hospital that our community deserves, we realized that we just could not accommodate it on such a small parcel of land,” said Carney.
That’s ultimately why the hospital is pursuing plans to build a 252-bed modern acute care hospital on the site of the Vogel Medical Campus in Tinton Falls. Located on the site of the former Fort Monmouth Myer Center, the 36-acre Vogel Medical Campus is located off Hope Road and easily accessible via the nearby Garden State Parkway and other major roadways.
The new acute care hospital will be constructed in two towers, one dedicated to maternity care and the other to surgery. The facility will also have a full-service emergency room, operating suite, radiology, and other critical services, according to a RWJ Barnabas Health press release.
It’ll be a while before the hospital opens. The project still has to go through an extensive approval process.
On Friday, Carney said the New Jersey Department of Health deemed the hospital system’s Certificate of Need application complete, which means the proposed project can move forward to the next phase of the review and approval process.
If all goes well, he said, the new acute care hospital should open on the Vogel Medical Campus by 2032.
Despite these changes, Carney said the facility in Long Branch will remain an important part of the community.
The 135-year-old hospital will undergo several renovations to help it meet current, modern standards. For instance, the outpatient surgery center, which was built in the 1990s, will be upgraded. The current labor and delivery unit will become a residential behavioral health unit. The hospital’s emergency department will remain.
While RWJ Barnabas Health described Friday’s announcement as an exciting expansion, the plan hasn’t been embraced by everyone.
Carney said he wouldn’t speculate on remarks made earlier by Rep. Frank Pallone, who said he would do everything he can to stop the transfer of services.
Pallone said Friday morning that the move would leave Monmouth Medical Center with “a shell of the current services.”
Hackensack Meridian Health also expressed concerns on Friday that the decision would destabilize regional healthcare, increasing the burden on the health system’s Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center.
“Hackensack Meridian Health will continue to fight through all potential avenues to ensure access to vital, life-saving acute care services for the residents of Long Branch and Neptune, along with greater Monmouth County,” said a spokeswoman for hospital system.
N.J. hospital is not abandoning its current location, despite moving services, president says
