Bergen-Passaic, NJ Medical Malpractice Blog

Newton Memorial Hospital is a not-for-profit hospital serving the community of Newton, New Jersey. In June 2010, the hospital received a Voluntary Hospital Association (VHA) Leadership Award for the fourth time in the last five years. This year's award was the VHA Leadership Award for Supply Chain Management Excellence, recognizing the hospital's efforts to cut costs in operations. But are awards like this a good thing for patients?

What is the VHA?

Newton Memorial is part of a network of health care organizations that establish best-practice standards that are shared with its group members. The network is known as the Voluntary Hospital Association. There are approximately 1400 community hospitals and 28,000 non-acute health care organizations that are a part of VHA. Each year the VHA awards its highest achieving members in the areas of operational efficiency and clinical excellence.

In another cost-cutting measure that affects health care, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services announced in June 2010 that its funding for the New Jersey Hospital Care Payment Assistance Program will result in the South Jersey Health System losing more than $1 million. The payment assistance program helps patients who are unable to pay their medical bills in full.

The department attempted to soften the blow by maintaining that overall funding would increase because the changes would leverage more federal funding. A department spokesperson said that the state would increase its funding by $85 million over the previous year but that the funds would be distributed in a more equitable fashion.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Hospital Association noted that New Jersey lost 10 hospitals in the past five years and six others had filed for bankruptcy. Also, the state's hospitals are due to lose $4.5 billion in federal funds over the next 10 years as a result of the new health care reform law. Accordingly, New Jersey will suffer a proposed $120 million cut in Medicare payments.

Although Seigel Capozzi Law Firm LLC is primarily known for it's presence in the Trial Court's, Joseph Albano recently obtained a New Jersey Supreme Court decision affirming a $199,000.00 recovery for a young woman injured when she fell on steps. The defense had appealed the recovery to the Appellate Division where Mr. Albano won the case and the defense then further appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court which again affirmed the recovery. While the case was on appeal, interest was running and the client eventually recovered a total of $248,000.00. Most cases are not appealed by the defense but the Firm stands ready, willing and able to protect any recovery it obtains on behalf of a client.

Things change quickly in the legal world. Every day, legislatures and judges make hundreds of decisions that impact the way cases are prepared and presented for court. At Seigel Capozzi Law Firm LLC, we understand how important it is to stay current with legal matters. We follow the legal stories that will affect the strategies we use while protecting your rights.

We also know that keeping you informed about the legal process will help you make better decisions regarding your own case. This Blog page is intended to serve as a forum for discussing case law and relevant court decisions in the legal areas of medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, premises liability, motor vehicle accidents and workers' compensation. Periodically, we will update the information and Blog topics, so please return often to see our most current posts and comments.

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We welcome your feedback about this and future Blog posts on this page.  Thank you for visiting. Call us at 201-444-4000 to discuss your specific legal need today.