Hospital boss apologizes to Murphy, staff for ‘baseless’ statements

The CEO of CarePoint Health System today apologized to Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration for disparaging them in a lawsuit involving one of their competitors, RWJBarnabas.

“We were regrettably advised to include certain statements involving the Governor’s Office that should never have been included or filed, as we have learned they were baseless and without merit,” said Dr. Achynta Moulick, the CarePoint CEO, who said they quickly amended filings to remove “offensive paragraphs that lacked evidentiary support.”

The Hudson County-based nonprofit health system has filed a lawsuit arguing that the RW Barnabas-run Jersey City Medical Center violate federal and state ant-trust laws in their expansion bid.

Including Murphy and his staff in their arguments created a political problem for the hospital system.

“CarePoint wholeheartedly offers its sincerest apologies to the Governor and his staff for allowing the initial complaint to be filed with those statements included.  We actually have the utmost respect for Governor Murphy and his steadfast and unflinching dedication to preserving and expanding access to quality healthcare for marginalized and disadvantaged populations,” Moulick stated.  “The actions of the Governor, his chief of staff, and Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli, along with our clinical professionals, helped save countless lives, and we could not be more thankful to them for their leadership through the pandemic.”

CarePoint operates safety net hospitals — Christ Hospital in Jersey City, Hoboken University Medical Center, and Bayonne Medical Center – to offer health care to economically disadvantaged communities.

Moulick said CarePoint as been “an impassioned advocate for safety net care and the expansion of access in Hudson County to sophisticated specialty services.”