Medical Center Partnership Has Three Bidders

More than seven months after the process to find a strategic partner began, Hackettstown Regional Medical Center currently has three bids from health care corporations that would help sustain the local hospital’s services.

Ascension Healthcare Network, Hackensack University Health Network, and Atlantic Health System have all submitted bids via Cain Brothers to Adventist Healthcare, according to Lisa Dimiceli, Marketing and Public Relations Manager at Hackettstown Regional Medical Center.

Cain Brothers is a health care financial advisory firm contracted by Hackettstown Regional Medical Center during this process. 

The bidding process is still ongoing, Dimiceli said, and there is no date as to when an entity would be chosen.

“We hope to hear of the selection soon,” Dimiceli said. “It would be wishful to be done by the end of the year.”

Adventist HealthCare's Board and Executive Team will lead the process of selecting the partner, Dimiceli said. There isn't a set number of bidders that the hospital is looking for and no one entity has an advantage over another, Dimiceli said. 

Currently, Hackensack University Medical Center has an agreement with HRMC, providing contracted laboratory and pathology services, specialized bariatric surgical services, and neurosurgery for the Hackettstown facility’s stroke patients.

Locally, Atlantic Health System is a partner with Morristown Medical Center. Ascension Healthcare Network is a partner with St. Vincent’s Health Services in Connecticut and Seton Manor in Pennsylvania.

Changing Times

As medical needs change and Hackettstown Regional Medical Center’s patients expand, the facility realized it was time to explore other options.

In a press release from May of this year, the hospital said:

“The healthcare landscape in New Jersey is rapidly changing, particularly in the northwestern part of the state, and has become extremely competitive. The smaller, stand alone hospitals like HRMC, will find it progressively more difficult to meet the increasing needs and demands of a diverse population and still remain viable in the midst of challenging insurance provider relationships and decreasing reimbursements posed by State and Federal governments.  With those factors in mind, HRMC leaders stress that the time is right for this exploration.”

“With their assistance, we’ll identify potential solutions to safeguard our ability to deliver valuable health care services to the community, continue our positive growth, and affirm our commitment to providing state-of-the-art technology and compassionate, quality healthcare,” HRMC President Jason Coe said in the release.

The hospital opened its Willow Grove Street doors in 1973.