NEWARK, NJ — It was a dizzying day for the hospital industry Wednesday, as executives from five North Jersey hospitals announced plans to sell, explore a merger, and seek a new buyer to shore up their stake in the state’s competitively “harsh” health care market.
Industry experts said even more sales and consolidations were looming as hospitals brace for the financial consequences of the federal health care reform law — insuring more people while cutting costs — which will take effect in two years.
Kerry McKean Kelly, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Hospitals Association, said health care reform was driving a lot of the discussions about consolidation and partnerships. “There might be a single payment for an ‘episode of care’ that would be divided between home health aides, physicians, nursing homes, hospitals,” she said.
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