{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pallone.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-state-closing-our-hospital-would-be-disaster-long-branch-area", "Pallone to State: Closing Our Hospital Would Be A Disaster For Long Branch Area Residents", "2025-12-04", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "NJ", "Frank Pallone, Jr.", "P000034", "pallone.house.gov", "pallone", "https://pallone.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "LONG BRANCH, N.J. \u2013 At today\u2019s final State Health Planning Board hearing on RWJ Barnabas Health\u2019s plan to close Monmouth Medical Center (MMC) hospital in Long Branch, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) delivered testimony in opposition to RWJ Barnabas\u2019s plan to close one of New Jersey\u2019s best hospitals.\n\n\u201cSimply put, RWJ Barnabas\u2019 plan to close the Long Branch hospital puts profits over people. Period. They are abandoning a poorer, more diverse city for a significantly wealthier, less diverse suburb,\u201d Pallone said.\n\nPallone has opposed the disastrous plan from day one, arguing that RWJ Barnabas is abandoning a lower-income area to build a concierge hospital in Tinton Falls. For months, he has demanded fair hearings and an opportunity for community members to be heard after two chaotic and inaccessible hearings: one announced illegally, the other held in a cramped off-site venue in Eatontown where opponents were left outside in the freezing cold while RWJBarnabas employees filled the seats. Today\u2019s is the final public hearing before RWJ Barnabas\u2019s plan is approved by state officials.\n\nPrepared Testimony of Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr.\n\nState Health Planning Board \u2013 December 4, 2025\n\nCheck Against Delivery\n\nMy name is Frank Pallone, and I represent Long Branch and much of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties.\n\nSimply put, RWJ Barnabas\u2019 plan to close the Long Branch hospital puts profits over people. Period.\n\nThey are abandoning a poorer, more diverse city for a significantly wealthier, less diverse suburb.\n\nMonmouth Medical Center\u2019s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment \u2013 a rigorous review of its communities\u2019 health needs \u2013 underscores why Long Branch needs an acute care hospital.\n\nLong Branch has a 16.2% poverty rate, one of the highest in the county. Monmouth Medical Center\u2019s assessment estimates over 5,8000 uninsured residents, the highest in the county.\n\nMany Latino and Hispanic residents face transportation barriers, and Long Branch has the highest rate of foreign-born residents and foreign language speakers in the county.\n\nThe loss of Monmouth Medical Center Hospital in Long Branch would place an undue burden on both Jersey Shore Medical Center and Riverview Hospital, both closer to Long Branch than a new hospital in Tinton Falls.\n\nThe Health Department staff recommendations do not take into account the actual travel time.\n\nHave you ever tried to travel from Long Branch to Tinton Falls in July or August along Route 36? It\u2019s literally bumper to bumper and adds a half hour to your travel time.\n\nThe Health Department staff recommendations provide no analysis of the actual need for an acute care hospital in Long Branch or the shift of the Long Branch area residents to the two nearby Hackensack Meridian Hospitals.\n\nThe staff essentially says it doesn\u2019t matter since the new hospital in Tinton Falls is still in the Monmouth Medical Center service area.\n\nBut that begs the question of the true medical needs of the Long Branch area residents and the overcrowding resulting from thousands of new patients, many uninsured or on Medicaid that will go to Jersey Shore Hospital and Riverview Medical Center.\n\nFinancially, this move allows RWJBarnabas Health to drop Medicaid and uninsured patients while capturing wealthier ones, jeopardizing the stability of other hospitals in the area.\n\nThe application before you is significantly amended from the one filed by RWJBarnabas last year that retained Monmouth Medical Center hospital in Long Branch. The amended application seeks to transfer the hospital license from our city and eliminate acute inpatient services at Long Branch.\n\nThe Health Department staff recommendations insist that the Long Branch Hospital license be transferred to Tinton Falls because neither location would have the full complement of mandatory hospital services necessary for a general acute care hospital.\n\nBut, that is a mischaracterization of the initial application. The new hospital in Tinton Falls could have the full complement of mandatory hospital services and therefore qualify as a general hospital.\n\nThe most important acute care services that the initial application retained in Long Branch were; inpatient medical surgery and beds capable of being made into ICU units when necessary. This took into account the real needs of Long Branch area residents.\n\nThe Health Department staff recommendations do provide that the Long Branch campus offer other acute care services such as a satellite emergency department, a 24-bed observation unit, an outpatient surgery center with specialty clinics and imaging services. So why can\u2019t Long Branch include acute inpatient surgery and beds that are ICU adaptable as originally proposed?\n\nAlso, why do the Health Department staff only recommend that the satellite emergency department remains in Long Branch indefinitely? Both our inpatient surgery and operating rooms and beds as well as all the outpatient services specified by the Health Department Staff should be mandated indefinitely, not just for five years. Anything that is mandated for a certain period of time would allow for RWJ Barnabas to transition out that service and close it down.\n\nOur representatives in the state legislature have introduced bills that would require that both the existing inpatient and outpatient surgery services remain in Long Branch. There is no reason why the Health Planning Board can\u2019t do the same.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pallone.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-state-closing-our-hospital-would-be-disaster-long-branch-area"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.358421217650175, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}