By Sunayana Prabhu
EATONTOWN – The State Health Planning Board heard hours of testimony last week about plans by Monmouth Medical Center (MMC) to relocate its core services from its 135-year-old Long Branch facility to a new 36-acre campus in Tinton Falls. The four hours of sharply divided testimony took place during a public meeting Nov. 13 at the Ann Vogel Family Care & Wellness Center. Another hearing is planned in December.
RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH), which owns the 13-acre Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, plans to modernize and expand its services in Monmouth County. In 2022, the system purchased 36 acres in Tinton Falls on former Fort Monmouth property – including the Myer research facility, now the Ann Vogel Medical Campus – to support hospital growth.
The hospital’s certificate of need application was deemed complete by the state Department of Health last month, meaning it met the requirements for review, although no final determination has been made. The State Health Planning Board is now conducting at least two mandatory public hearings to review all testimony. A crowd in the hundreds attended the first meeting. The next one is planned for Dec. 4 in Ewing Township.
Outrage Over Meeting Venue
Residents and elected officials, in addition to physicians and top executives from two of the state’s largest health care systems – Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) and RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) – packed the first public hearing on MMC’s relocation plans. The hearing launched a heated debate over the proposed move, with supporters and opponents clashing over access to care, community impact and the future of regional health services.
The meeting opened amid mounting frustration over the venue’s limited capacity, which left many residents waiting in the cold for a chance to be heard.
“This is outrageous,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6), as members of the State Health Planning Board opened the hearing inside the crowded center at 200 Wyckoff Road.
Pallone sharply criticized state officials and RWJBarnabas Health representatives for holding the hearing in two packed rooms with a combined seating capacity of about 200 people, instead of at Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch, the original venue, which he said could hold about 1,000.
“This is political theater,” David Minchello, an attorney on behalf of the City of Long Branch, said. “This room is filled to the brim with RWJBarnabas employees. The real people who want to be heard are outside in the cold. OK, you need to stop this hearing right now and get a room that can accommodate everyone so that we can actually have a hearing. If you do not, we continue to maintain our objection, and we’ll do so in the appropriate court of law.”
State officials, however, proceeded with the legally required hearing in the two crowded rooms.
Relocation Plans and Goals
MMC president and CEO Eric Carney presented the hospital’s case for relocation. MMC plans to create a new 252-bed hospital in Tinton Falls that would house inpatient medical and surgical units, as well as maternity and pediatric services. The Long Branch campus would be refurbished into a modern behavioral health hospital.
“The plan also commits to operating two emergency rooms, one in Long Branch and one in Tinton Falls,” Carney said.
MMC draws patients from Monmouth County, northern Ocean County and eastern Middlesex County. Carney said the relocation – about five miles from the current site – would make patient care “more accessible.”
A full-service emergency room, 24-bed observation unit, behavioral health services and outpatient clinics would remain in Long Branch.
Carney argued the move is necessary because much of MMC’s core infrastructure is outdated. “The majority of our medical surgical care is provided in buildings that were built before 1970 and some of our major infrastructure is in a building that was built in 1935.”
“A full replacement was recommended to continue operations on campus,” he said.
He said engineering assessments found the facilities difficult, if not impossible, to modernize to current standards, citing inadequate ceiling heights, outdated layouts and insufficient space for new technology.
Additionally, Carney noted, “67% of our inpatient admissions are (for) elective (services), meaning only 33% of our admissions arrive through our emergency room. This is half the state average.” He added that 86% of MMC’s patients come from outside Long Branch. “We are a regional medical center, and our plan gets our nationally recognized care closer to the people we already serve.”
Supporters of the Move
MMC leadership, including many hospital staff members, physicians and some community leaders, defended the relocation, citing outdated infrastructure, space limitations and the need for upgraded emergency, behavioral health and surgical services.
Vin Prabhat, M.D., an ear, nose and throat surgeon and president of MMC’s medical staff, said MMC’s physical structure makes it “very challenging for us to be able to incorporate all of the new advances in surgery and state-of-the-art care for our patients.”
Jonathan Teitelbaum, M.D., chair of the pediatrics department at MMC, said procedural spaces are undersized. “Currently, I do endoscopies in a small room that is so small we can barely sometimes fit all the up-to-date equipment that we need in the same room with the patient,” he said.
George Helmy, executive vice president of RWJBH and a former appointed U.S. senator who also served as Gov. Phil Murphy’s chief of staff from 2019 to 2023, refuted claims that capacity or services would be reduced. “We are expanding our services, investing hundreds of millions of dollars, creating good-paying jobs for our brothers and sisters of organized labor and bringing services closer to the people who need it,” he said.
Helmy added that MMC serves “over 66% more Monmouth County residents who are underinsured or uninsured with Medicare or Affordable Care Act plans than the next highest hospital in the county.”
Opponents of the Move
Several dozen residents and elected officials argued the relocation would strip Long Branch of critical services and burden low-income residents, seniors and those without transportation.
“Let’s be honest, once the license leaves Long Branch, we lose everything that makes it a hospital – labor and delivery, the ICU, inpatient care and major surgery,” Pallone said. “Long Branch has the highest uninsured and underinsured population in Monmouth County. These individuals should have access to an acute care hospital nearby.”
Red Bank Deputy Mayor Kate Triggiano warned the move would create a “health care desert.”
“There are hospitals in urban centers in New York City, and when they need to renovate their hospitals, they don’t move out to the farm,” she said. “This moment also forces us to look beyond one hospital, to confront a deeper truth. Our nation’s health care system is broken.”
“You’re putting one more burden on people who can’t get around,” said Rev. Sue Mamchak, 81. She said she doesn’t drive and has to pay $18 for a cab to Tinton Falls from Long Branch. “I love the statement that was just made. It’s not that big a commute. My answer is, for whom?”
“If you wanted to build a hospital in Tinton Falls, why take away from Long Branch, which is accessible to people,” said 91-year-old Long Branch resident Donald Riley. “Those senior citizens who don’t have a car would have a lot of problems trying to get to a hospital in Tinton Falls.”
Some physicians warned of the strain on nearby facilities, such as Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank.
“Riverview’s Emergency Department is already one of the busiest in the region,” said Tim Hogan, president of Riverview. He said relocating MMC “will have an adverse economic impact on our operations.”
Vito Buccellato, president and chief hospital executive of Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital, said closing acute services in Long Branch would send more patients to Jersey Shore, risking delays in care. He urged the state department of health to pause the process for a fuller regional review.
“Monmouth Medical Center may be 20 minutes away on a good day, but with beach traffic, it’s going to be probably 30 minutes that feels like an eternity when your child is not breathing,” said Kevin Dwyer, chair of emergency medicine at Riverview. He said the proposed standalone emergency department in Long Branch “sounds reassuring on paper,” but lacks critical services and would be bypassed for serious emergencies.
What Comes Next
The State Health Planning Board will weigh testimony and staff analysis before making a recommendation to Health Commissioner Jeffrey Brown, who will issue the final decision.
A second public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 4 at the New Jersey State Police Division Headquarters, 1040 River Road, Ewing Township, with online participation available via a virtual link posted on the meeting agenda on the state website.
The article originally appeared in the November 20 – 26, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
