Meeting set on sale of Memorial Hospital of Salem County

New Jersey's State Health Planning Board has scheduled a Nov. 8 public meeting on the sale of Memorial Hospital of Salem County to a newly-created nonprofit that will be run by a North Jersey management company.

Publicly traded Community Health Systems Inc., which bought the hospital near Salem for $35 million in 2002, has agreed to sell it for $1 million, plus reimbursement for cash on hand expected to bring the total cost to $3 million, to Salem County Hospital Corp., according to an application for approval of the deal.

The $3 million is expected to come from a Salem County Health & Wellness Foundation grant. If the foundation, started with money from the 2002 sale of the hospital, does not supply the money, it is expected to come from the Bloomfield, N.J., management company, Community Healthcare Associates LLC, the application said.

Community Health previously had an agreement to sell the hospital, which this year is expected to lose $22.6 million on $64.5 million in revenue, to Prime Healthcare Foundation for $15 million, but Prime backed out last year.

The only available alternative to the currently proposed sale is closure, the planning board filing said. That "was considered to be an unacceptable option in view of the absence of available acute care services in the area and the offer" from the nonprofit.

The planning board will take comments at Salem High School, at 219 Walnut St. in Salem, starting at 6 p.m. next Thursday.