NJ Supreme Court Ruling Enables Dept. of Health & Senior Services to Prevent Gap in Ongoing Angioplasty Project

According to the Department of Health and Senior Services, participation in the demonstration project is important so that the state can best d

Hamilton, NJ – The New Jersey Supreme Court today issued a ruling that will allow nine New Jersey hospitals to continue uninterrupted participation in an important elective angioplasty demonstration project by extending the time within which the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services (NJHSS) must promulgate revised regulations, and issue new certificates of need and licenses. The multi-state project is being conducted by Johns Hopkins, and is designed to compare outcomes of patients treated with elective angioplasty at hospitals with cardiac surgery on-site to hospitals that have off-site cardiac surgery back-up.
"We were confident that the elective angioplasty demonstration project underway at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton is proceeding the way the Department of Health and Senior Services intended. Patient safety is our number one priority and we are very pleased the Court is allowing the nine hospitals to continue," said Ellen Guarnieri, President and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton.
The Court’s May 31 order required the Department of Health and Senior Services to revise its existing regulations to eliminate conflicts in the rules that govern the project. The Court provided that the nine participating hospitals could continue performing elective angioplasty for six months until new regulations and licenses were in place.
The hospitals participating in the demonstration project are: Bayonne Medical Center, Holy Name Hospital, Monmouth Medical Center, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, Somerset Medical Center, Trinitas Hospital and Virtua West Jersey Hospital Marlton.
In a September 10 motion, the hospitals contended that the November 30 deadline did not provide sufficient time for NJDHSS to complete the processes required to allow the project to continue without interruption. Today’s ruling emphasizes that the Court’s prior ruling was concerned with the administrative process and not the safety of the study.
Three South Jersey hospitals – Cooper University Hospital, Lourdes Medical Center, and Deborah Hospital – appealed the Commissioner’s approval in an attempt to stop the demonstration project. Those three hospitals took their appeal all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Commissioner of Health and Senior Services Fred Jacobs, M.D., J.D., approved the participation of the nine New Jersey hospitals in the elective angioplasty demonstration project on October 31, 2005. All of those hospitals have had their programs licensed and in operation for a year or more.
New Jersey is responsible for more than 30 percent of the demonstration project’s volume, making the state’s ongoing participation vital to the study’s integrity and timely completion.