It’s official: Hospital gets final state OK for move

The spotlight shifts to Plainsboro where municipal approvals are needed

By: Courtney Gross
   The University Medical Center at Princeton has received final approval of its plans to move to Plainsboro from the state Department of Health and Senior Services, paving the way for its relocation from Witherspoon Street in Princeton, hospital officials said.
   Just more than one month after the State Health Planning Board unanimously endorsed the medical center’s move, the final OK from Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Dr. Fred Jacobs was delivered Monday, hospital officials said.
   Dr. Jacobs had until May to determine if the hospital’s relocation was in the best interest of the community and that it would not inhibit access to health care. But that decision was made in under six weeks.
   The remaining hurdles for the hospital’s parent, Princeton HealthCare System, are now in Plainsboro, where the plan needs municipal approvals.
   In an e-mailed statement sent to the staff of Princeton HealthCare System, PHCS President and Chief Executive Officer Barry Rabner noted the speed which the application received state approval as well as the communication the hospital has had, and will continue to have, with the communities it serves.
   "As we go forward with the next phase of the relocation effort — obtaining the necessary planning approvals from Plainsboro to allow the project to be built — we remain committed to the principle of community communications and collaboration that guided us during the certificate of need process and for which we received much praise from the state health officials," Mr. Rabner stated.
   Several conditions are outlined in the commissioner’s approval, hospital officials said, all of which have been discussed throughout the state approval process — which began in December 2005.
   The conditions include the operation of an on-demand transportation system for patients now living near the hospital without access to the new location; the operation of an information center in the hospital’s current vicinity that would also coordinate the transportation service; a communication outreach plan to notify municipal officials and residents; and the expansion of the clinic hours to include extended hours on some weekdays and on Saturdays.
   Although there was little public opposition over the past several months to the hospital’s move, some concerns over access emerged regarding those who use the hospital’s clinic, which serves the underinsured and uninsured.
   Working together with municipal officials and residents, a task force was assembled on the clinic issue. It concluded that keeping an off-site clinic in the hospital’s current location would be unnecessary. Instead, Princeton officials suggested that reliable transportation to the Plainsboro site be assured.
   The medical center’s relocation was endorsed by the majority of municipal officials, citing the need to keep up with emerging technologies and the limitations of its current space.
   A move to the FMC Corp. site at the intersection of Plainsboro Road and Route 1 would allow the hospital to expand, incorporate emerging trends in the health care industry, such as single patient rooms, and improve quality of service, hospital officials said.
   The proposed 269-bed facility, which includes a decrease of 34 acute-care beds, would be approximately three miles from the Princeton location.