In an effort to broaden its range of services and increase its geographic area of coverage, Bayonne Medical Center is seeking to purchase St. Vincent's Catholic Hospital on Staten Island, and also to establish a partnership with a private firm that would add a long-term skilled nursing home to its current list of assets.

St. Vincent's Hospital, located on the North Shore of Staten Island, is a 278-bed facility that already uses many of the same doctors that the Bayonne Medical Center does, and could result in an increase in employees overall if the sale goes through.

The amount of BMC's offer for the purchase has not been made public, but a decision on the sale is expected to be released shortly.

Although BMC has just restructured its own debt and St. Vincent's is about $100 million in debt, the purchase - made possible through New York State Dormitory Authority - would give BMC a combined value of about $500 million, and potential savings through joint purchase of supplies and management of staff.

"Both facilities will be run independently and will have distinct missions," said Robert H. Evans, president and chief executive officer of BMC, in response to questions on the sale. "There may be additional opportunities in Bayonne in some support areas, since Bayonne Medical Center would be the lead organization and the parent entity with respect to governance."

Evans also said the purchase would increase BMC's health educators and specialty services since St. Vincent's is a teaching hospital.

"This is very important for an organization like Bayonne Medical Center that is developing leading-edge treatment options in cardiology, vascular medicine, radiology, GI services and women's health," Evans said. "Access to additional sources of information, resources and training will enhance our own level of care here in Bayonne."

The sale, Evans added, would have a regional benefit.

"On a basic level, it affords both entities enormous strength in negotiating everything from managed care contracts to equipment prices to supplies," he said. "With a combined revenue stream that would approximate $500 million annually, it would also afford both entities easier access to much needed capital to fund new equipment, perform repairs and maintenance on the existing plant and develop needed services in here and in Staten Island. Additional benefits to Bayonne Medical Center would be a higher level of reimbursement by achieving a teaching hospital designation, and the ability to balance local New Jersey market risks by having healthcare interests that cross state lines. Often, state markets differ and at any given time the environment may be more beneficial in one area than another. Presently, when Hudson County specifically and New Jersey in general have difficult economic times with respect to healthcare, there is no place to turn. Becoming a regional provider allows you to mitigate local market conditions and makes both organizations more secure."

Evans estimated the changes for the hospitals would take place over a nine-month period after the sale if it goes through.

A partnership with a nursing home

In December, BMC's board of directors signed a letter of intent that would begin developing plans for the purchase of a nursing home partner. Although Hudson County already has 15 nursing home providers with up to about 2,000 available beds, BMC estimates a need for 1,800 more throughout the county and would provide a nursing home facility in Bayonne in response to aging residents who would like to remain located here.

Bayonne has a significant elderly population and approximately 350 to 400 residents of Bayonne are currently forced to accept a placement out of town, Evans said. "This is a special hardship for them and their families," he said. "Most of these people have lived here, in Bayonne, most of their lives. We feel they deserve to have a nursing home placement in the place they spent most so many years and to be close to their families and longtime physicians."

This combined effort would provide residents with distinct advantages over other nursing homes elsewhere in the county, Evans said.

"First, it would be brand new and incorporate the newest technologies and the very finest environment of care features," he said. "It would be light and airy and with its central location, friends and families would be a short distance away. Most important, the residents of the nursing home would have direct and immediate access to Bayonne Medical Center for emergency care and medical procedures. This is a tremendous benefit to the residents and a fairly unique situation. Certainly, it provides a very high level of medical security that most nursing home residents would surely appreciate. Finally, since this would be completely financed by the developer of the nursing home, Bayonne Medical Center and the community would enjoy the many benefits of a state-of-the-art nursing home without expending the organization's capital."

One site for a potential nursing home would be the former Bayonne Window and Glass building on Broadway near 28th Street that would accommodate as many as 120 beds. Because the cost of operating such a facility would be more than BMC could handle alone, a private partner would be brought in.

If everything goes as planned, the center could see its first residents in the spring of 2007, Evans said.