New Jersey Gov. Seeks Commission To Evaluate State’s Hospitals
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) has proposed the establishment of a commission that would determine whether all New Jersey hospitals are needed, they are suitably located to meet health care needs and state funding is properly distributed among them, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Corzine says the commission would be modeled after one the federal government uses to determine whether military bases should be closed. According to Corzine, state hospital officials have said about 25 hospitals are not needed. Corzine added that hospitals would not be forced to close but that the state could make officials justify "why [they] are providing resources in one place and not in another in a time when people have to make tough financial decisions." Ron Czajkowski, a vice president with the New Jersey Hospital Association, said the state has 81 acute-care hospitals and 34 specialty hospitals, adding that it is "premature" to "put a number on the prospects of hospital closures." However, he said that his group "look[s] forward to working with a commission that would redefine the future shape of not only hospitals but the entire health care delivery system" (Hester, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/1).
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