The dozen New Jersey hospitals identified earlier this year as vulnerable to closing, reducing services or laying off workers remain open, though their continued operation does not mean the financial threat from federal Medicaid cuts has passed.
The warning, reported by NJTODAY in April, concerned hospitals already struggling financially before President Donald Trump signed sweeping Medicaid reductions into law on July 4, 2025.
Public Citizen, the consumer advocacy organization behind the analysis, explicitly said its findings identified financial vulnerability rather than predicted which hospitals would close.
A separate hospital, Heights University Hospital in Jersey City, formerly Christ Hospital, closed its remaining emergency department on March 14. That facility was not among the 12 hospitals on the list, and its shutdown followed years of financial trouble, a bankruptcy involving its former owner and the elimination of inpatient services in November 2025.
The distinction matters: The Public Citizen report warned about hospitals’ ability to withstand funding losses, not that a dozen New Jersey facilities were preparing to shut their doors.
Released March 31, the analysis identified 446 hospitals nationwide as particularly vulnerable to Medicaid cuts. It selected facilities with negative average net profit margins from 2022 through 2024 and that received at least 20% of their revenue, on average, from Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and other low-income government programs.
The New Jersey facilities identified in the reporting were Bayonne Medical Center; Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton; Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville; East Orange General Hospital, now CareWell Health Medical Center; Hoboken University Medical Center; Inspira Medical Center Vineland; Monmouth’s Lakewood hospital; Newark Beth Israel Medical Center; Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen; Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick; St. Michael’s Medical Center in Newark; and Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth.
Hospital executives disputed suggestions that the findings meant closures were imminent. In April, RWJBarnabas Health said its affected hospitals faced no immediate threat of closure or reduced services, while acknowledging that federal funding reductions would strain community hospitals’ already narrow operating margins.
Employment notices also require careful interpretation.
At Bayonne’s hospital, now called Bayonne University Hospital, 967 employees received notices identifying June 29 as a potential layoff date. Hudson Regional Health said the notices were triggered by a transfer of ownership, license, and operating business, with employees expected to transition to the new ownership. The notices alone do not establish that 967 workers ultimately lost their jobs or that Medicaid cuts caused the action.
Other developments show that financial vulnerability can coexist with investment. CareWell Health Medical Center in East Orange, for example, opened a new medical laboratory this year and continues to advertise round-the-clock hospital operations.
The underlying concern remains substantial. Public Citizen said the 2025 reconciliation law would reduce federal Medicaid and CHIP spending by $911 billion over a decade, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates. Hospitals serving large numbers of low-income patients face pressure from both reduced public funding and patients losing insurance coverage.
When patients become uninsured, hospitals can face more unpaid bills while still having to maintain emergency services, staffing, and other essential operations. The consequences can include reduced services and staffing even when a hospital remains open.
In Jersey City, the loss of Heights University Hospital illustrates the consequences of losing hospital capacity, although the available evidence does not establish that the federal Medicaid law alone caused its closure.
Hudson Regional Health shut the hospital’s emergency department after eliminating most other services months earlier. The closure left Jersey City with one hospital emergency department, according to the New Jersey Monitor. The operator said the decision was necessary to preserve financial stability elsewhere in its system.
State officials challenged how the shutdown was carried out. The Department of Health said the operator had closed services without obtaining required approval despite receiving millions of dollars in state assistance.
For the dozen hospitals identified by Public Citizen, remaining open is a key distinction from the Jersey City shutdown. Whether they can preserve staffing, services, and access to care as federal funding reductions unfold remains the central question.
While the 12 hospitals identified by Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, have remained open, Heights University Hospital in Jersey City shut down completely. The facility’s operator, Hudson Regional Health, initially acquired the bankrupt hospital in early 2025. Citing state charity care adjustments and federal funding cuts, the operator gradually scaled back operations, culminating in the closure of its emergency room in March 2026.
Heights University Hospital marked the 29th hospital closure in New Jersey over a three-decade span.
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