'De facto closing' protested in letter to Corzine

A Muhlenberg employee and supporter of 'Save Muhlenberg' forwarded the following letter.

It speaks to the 'de facto' closing of Muhlenberg by Solaris that is reportedly going on, and was faxed to the Governor's office at the end of last week.

To: Governor Jon Corzine
CC: Commissioner of Heath and Senior Services

Fax Number 609-292-3454

Subject: De facto closing of Muhlenberg Hospital

Solaris Health Systems continue to close the Hospital one unit at a time. They are showing an utter disregard for the process and the law. Word on the Street is that they plan to shut down the Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center by June 15, 2008 even if Solaris has not received a CN for that shutdown. The Health Commissioner appears powerless or lacks the political will to take the necessary actions to prevent the de facto shutdown of this facility that services up to 16 towns and cities in the Plainfield Area.

It is the Governments duty to protect the health and welfare of the communities that Muhlenberg services. The hospital should not be closed until the Commissioner of Health has conducted a needs/impact assessment and a close review of the Solaris books. In a recent New Jersey Supreme Court Case (Virtua), it was held that a proper community /impact assessment must be part of the record in a CN proceeding to shut down an urban hospital that serves a high proportion of charity and other government funded patients. The losses that Solaris is claiming for 2007 & 2008 are difficult to understand when you compare it with the information reflected on the Forms 990 Tax Exempt Returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service for the periods ending 2002 through 2006. The average loss during that period of time was (2.6) million as compare to the claimed 18 million dollar loss in the calendar year ended 2007. As of the year ended December 31, 2006, the Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center had net assets of 22.6 million dollars and the Community property Group had net assets of 82 million dollars. This would indicate that both hospitals were liquid at that point in time. What transpired to produce these large losses? An independent CPA Firm should be appointed to evaluate this matter before a decision is reached on a Certificate of Need.

In order to uphold the integrity of the process, the Health Commissioner needs to act quickly and seek injunctive relief in court requiring Muhlenberg to remain open as a fully operational acute care facility until such time as the Commissioner has reached a final decision on the merits of the CN. Furthermore, the Corzine Administration has found additional revenue to support its property tax rebate program. Maybe, some additional funding can be used to keep vital hospitals like Muhlenberg open. It has been perceived by many that the Corzine Administration is only closing hospital that services a large number of charity care patients and the poor. As a registered democrat for forty years, I feel this perception needs to be changed. Let’s start with Muhlenberg and pull all parties together that need to make things happen so that an excellent rated institution remains open.

I have also been told that the cardiac care unit was reopened on 5/14 -- though Solaris denies it was ever closed.

-- Dan Damon