The Hoboken Girl Team 
The emergency room at Heights University Hospital, located at 176 Palisade Avenue in Jersey City, will close for good on March 14th. The hospital was purchased by a new operator in 2025, and the rest of the facility was closed in late 2025. The emergency room closure comes after the operating company asked the state for more money in Fall 2025 and has failed to come up with an operating budget. Read on for more about the closure of Heights University Hospital in Jersey City.
Image courtesy of Google Maps
The Backstory
Heights University Hospital was originally founded in 1872 and was known as Christ Hospital. Its location in the Jersey City Heights meant it was the central location for medical care in the neighborhood. Hudson Regional Health began operating the hospital in November 2024. As part of hospital operator Carepoint’s bankruptcy proceedings, Hudson Regional Health took ownership of the property in April 2025. Hudson Regional Health took over Christ Hospital in Jersey City and the Hoboken University Medical Center. Hudson Regional owned the Bayonne Medical Center property since July 2020 and later received state approval to take full ownership and operation.
View this post on Instagram
In September 2025, HRH announced it would suspend non-essential services. At the time, the New Jersey Department of Health warned that the hospital could not shut down; it would need to create a plan and work with the state and other entities to wind down operations. “Be advised that HRH cannot simply close a hospital overnight. Doing so would be a blatant abandonment of its responsibility to the community and would constitute a serious licensure violation, exposing HRH to substantial fines and regulatory action,” the letter read.
In October 2025, HRH announced that unless the hospital received an infusion of funding from the state, it would have to close. Hospital operators requested $25 million. The hospital received $2 million from the state, which the CEO described as a ‘stopgap measure.’
Throughout the fall, Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), the union representing many of the hospital’s workers, has been critical of the hospital’s leadership and handling of the situation. In October, the organization released the following statement. “Many healthcare workers, who provide essential medical care, were simply told verbally that their departments were closed or that they no longer needed to report to work, without written notification of the date of separation or the severance amount. Less than six months ago, HRH committed, in bankruptcy court, to having sufficient funds to acquire and successfully operate the then-bankrupt CarePoint system, including Christ Hospital. Now they have reduced services, putting patients, workers and other hospitals at risk,” President Debbie White said.
Land Use Lawsuit
In October 2025, plans came to light that showed a proposal to redevelop the hospital property into a two-tower project with 2,200 residential units and 1,150 parking spaces spread out among a series of 10-story buildings. The future of the hospital became a hot topic during the Fall 2025 Mayoral election in Jersey City.
In December 2025, the Jersey City Council approved an ordinance limiting how the property could be re-zoned. Per TapInto Jersey City, “City officials said the change is intended to preserve the district’s original purpose of supporting hospitals, acute care facilities, and related medical uses.”
In February 2026, the hospital owners sued Jersey City over the December 2025 zoning changes related to the hospital property, arguing that the Council’s decision violates the City’s own Master Plan.
Current Situation
On February 26th, the hospital operator announced plans to close the emergency room at Heights University Hospital effective February 28th, 2026. However, at around 4PM on February 27th, HRH announced that it will continue Emergency Department Services at Heights University Hospital for two more weeks, before closing for good on March 14th. HRH said in a press release, “Emergency Department services are anticipated to be suspended at that time unless alternative funding to fund operations is secured through the New Jersey Department of Health, or other sources.”
As the rest of the hospital is already closed, March 14th will be the end of medical services provided at this location. Jersey City residents and others will have to go elsewhere for medical care, and in particular, emergency care. Vijay Chaudhuri, Vice President of External Affairs + Community Relations for HRH, shared the following statement. “Since taking over Heights University Hospital, HRH and its Chairman Yan Moshe have invested over $100 million in an attempt to aggressively stabilize its operations, including the rebuilding of service lines, enacting of labor agreements, recruitment of physicians, and more. Despite these historic investments, last year Heights University Hospital suffered a severe loss of $74 million, and a projected loss of the Emergency Department of $30 million this year. These losses were due in large part due to drastic cuts to Medicaid and other critical funding initiated by the One Big Beautiful Bill, the cutting of Charity Care at the state level by roughly half, a rising rate of uninsured patients, and other unforeseen factors.”
Read more: Several Hudson County Municipalities Take Action to Restrict ICE Activities
Many local leaders and other stakeholders have spoken out against the closure. Jersey City Councilmen Joel Brooks (Ward B), Tom Zuppa (Ward C), and Jake Ephros (Ward D) issued a joint statement. “[We] condemn in the strongest terms possible the decision by Hudson Regional Health (HRH) to close Christ Hospital, now renamed Heights University Hospital, on Friday, Feb 27th, without New Jersey State Department of Health (DOH) approval,” the offices of the three councilmen said in a statement to the Hudson County View.
Mayor James Solomon’s office shared the following statement. “Hudson Regional Hospital informed the administration that it intended to close the Emergency Department at Christ Hospital. This is unacceptable, especially since just a year ago, their CEO said that the future is bright for patients in the Heights. I will use all my power to reverse this decision. We are in active conversations with Governor Sherrill, the NJ Department of Health, our state legislative delegation, and HRH regarding options to save access to health care in the Heights. Every option, from emergency injunctions to transferring the license, must be on the table.”
NJ State Senator Angela McKnight, who represents the district where the hospital is located, issued the following statement. “The decision by Hudson Regional Health leadership to suspend Emergency Department operations is devastating for the residents of Jersey City and the surrounding area. Eliminating these crucial services will leave thousands of residents with fewer options for life-saving care when they need it most. While I sympathize with the financial struggles the hospital faces, it is deeply troubling that Hudson Regional Health chose to shut community members out of the decision-making process and announce the closure just three days before Emergency Department operations are set to cease. Our community was given virtually no time to prepare—patients, families, and healthcare workers received no notice, so they could not make advance arrangements to mitigate the impact of this service suspension on their lives. Heights University Hospital serves a population that already faces significant barriers to care, including seniors and uninsured or underinsured residents. Abruptly closing the Emergency Department in this manner creates confusion and is a major risk to patient safety. This type of care cannot just be switched off without negative consequences for our community. A decision of this magnitude will affect the lives of thousands of people all around Hudson County, and I detest the fact that they could not voice their concerns with hospital leadership directly and transparently. Moving forward, there must be open and honest communication between the hospital system, Jersey City residents, and the elected officials who represent them.”
See more: A Talk with Ivy Harrington, Neptune Native + Miss New Jersey USA 2025
HPAE President Debbie White, RN, issued the following statement. “We strongly urge the Department of Health, the Governor, and the Attorney General to step in to save Christ Hospital from being shut down. This employer has repeatedly violated laws and any penalty has failed to dissuade them from taking further illegal action. It seems that their business ventures come first even if it may put patients’ lives at risk. Our union members and the patients they care for need Governor Sherrill to intervene immediately and take action to stop the closure.”
The Hoboken Girl will update this article as more information becomes available.
Follow @thehobokengirl on Instagram + TikTok for the latest Hoboken and Jersey City updates, sign up for our weekly newsletter here that shares everything you missed each week, and check out our events calendar, which has over 100+ events weekly to peruse.
