APRIL 14, 2015, 6:06 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015, 6:08 PM
BY MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
After a bitter years-long legal battle to keep Hackensack University Medical Center from expanding in Bergen County, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center will be joining forces with its former rival, officials said Tuesday.
Englewood will maintain its own operations, finances, board, physicians and employees, but launch a clinical and academic affiliation that will create a regional cardiac program as well as other ventures.
“Hackensack University Health Network is pleased to partner with Englewood Hospital and Medical Center,” said Robert C. Garrett, president and chief executive officer of Hackensack University Health Network. “Today’s health care model places emphasis on collaboration.’’
As the delivery of health care and reimbursements to hospitals and physicians changes nationwide, many hospitals are joining large networks like Hackensack, which continues to grow well beyond its Bergen County roots to emerge as a statewide force.
While officials said the affiliation is not a merger with Hackensack, the hospital is currently in the process of turning another affiliation into an acquisition. Three years ago, Hackensack announced a clinical affiliation with Palisades Medical Center, which gave Hackensack a foothold in Hudson County. In September, Hackensack announced plans to acquire the North Bergen hospital, a deal that is under regulatory review.
The hospital’s parent company is also in the process of merging with Meridian Health and its six hospitals in Ocean and Monmouth counties, allowing Hackensack to tap into a market with one of the highest percentages of older residents in the country. In addition, Hackensack, along with a for-profit partner, reopened Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood and owns Mountainside Hospital in Essex County.
And earlier this year, Hackensack announced plans to open a private medical school with Seton Hall University in 2017 at the former Hoffmann-LaRoche site in Nutley and Clifton.
