Dive Brief:
- In a highly controversial move, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed a bill that dictates which hospital systems will provide local emergency medical services.
- The bill upsets the current, longstanding service arrangement in Camden, taking the EMS contract from one south Jersey hospital system and giving it to its competitor.
- The loser in the deal is Virtua Health, which has provided Camden with advanced life support and paramedic services since 1977. The winner is Cooper University Hospital, which serves as the region's Level 1 trauma center and provides the training to Virtua's paramedics.
Dive Insight:
The bill does not explicitly state an intention to alter EMS service in Camden. It is more broad in scope, stating that a hospital designated as a Level 1 trauma center is exclusively authorized to provide advanced life support services in its municipality, and that it has the right of first refusal to provide both advanced life support and basic life support in that municipality.
However, though it isn't named, Cooper is the only Level 1 trauma center in New Jersey that does not already provide local EMS.
Supporters argue that Cooper is best suited to the job because its paramedics can then plan to provide cohesive follow-up care for discharged patients. Critics suggest the deal is purely political given that the chairman of the board at Cooper, George Norcross, is seen as "the most influential Democrat in the state," with ties to Republican Gov. Chris Christie, as NJ.com reports.
The legislation has caused a feud between Cooper and Virtua, which announced that it is exploring litigation.