JERSEY CITY-The struggling Christ Hospital here, already dealing with a controversial sale to the for-profit Prime Healthcare Services for $15.8 million, could then be sold again to an Alabama-based REIT, reports the Jersey Journal.
Citing documents filed with the state, the Journal reported that the 139-year-old hospital would be sold to Birmingham, AL-based Medical Properties Trust, then leased back for $7 million annually. Prime and Christ Hospital have requested that a mandated review be expedited so the first sale could close by year-end.
"Christ Hospital will close if this sale is not approved," president and CEO Peter A. Kelly says in a letter on the hospital’s Web site. Earlier this month, the hospital announced layoffs of 50 staff members.
Members of the community, however, have raised concerns about the sale of the hospital to a for-profit company. "The people of Jersey City need to know that Christ Hospital, its services and our health care providers will always be here for our families," says Jersey City resident Paulette M. Eberle, co-chair of New Jersey Citizen Action, the state's largest citizen watchdog coalition, in a November press statement.
A Christ Hospital spokesman, tells GlobeSt.com: "Christ Hospital will continue to remain as an acute care hospital for the residents of Hudson County. This kind of transaction is common practice in the business community and is analogous to a home owner taking out a second mortgage to make improvements to their home."
MPT finances medical and healthcare facilities, 11 of them operated by Prime Healthcare. A community meeting has been scheduled to discuss the hospital sale on December 14.
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