Solaris: Letter To Council, Mayor, Assemblyman

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February 19, 2009 The Honorable Rashid Burney City Council President City of Plainfield 1127 Watchung Avenue Plainfield, NJ 07060

Dear Council President Burney: It has come to my attention that the Plainfield City Council held a hearing on February 17 regarding the Plainfield Rescue Squad. Several blog recounts of that meeting suggest that some Council members and/or members of the Robinson-Briggs Administration indicated that Solaris Health System is obligated to provide the Plainfield Rescue Squad with additional ambulance services based on a "handshake agreement" between Solaris and the CitylPOPlRestore Muhlenberg to settle a pending lawsuit appealing the decision to close acute care services at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center. I am very upset by these comments and would like to set the record straight. As you know, my office contacted the Robinson-Briggs Administration last October with an interest in settling the pending CN appeal out of court. The City presented us with a list of nearly a dozen demands to settle this lawsuit. Solaris verbally agreed to substantially all of those demands pending a written agreement and speedy withdrawal of the lawsuit by all parties. We drafted the written agreement reflecting our understanding of the agreed upon terms, which was forwarded to the City Attorney on October 31. The City Attorney responded on November 5 indicating that the Mayor did not approve of the settlement agreement and promised to forward suggested changes to Solaris within a week. From that point on, the City Attorney and the Mayor stopped returning telephone or email inquiries about the status of the settlement. When approached in person to discuss the settlement on two separate occasions, the Mayor claimed she was unaware of the status of the negotiation and promised to follow up within days. We received no response for almost three months. Finally, on January 26, nearly three months after we were scheduled to finalize our "handshake agreement" to settle the Muhlenberg CN appeal, my office received a new settlement proposal from the Mayor's office which included several new provisions that were not discussed last fall.

Affiliates of SOLARISHealth System JFK Medical Center

e Muhlenberg

Regional Medical Center

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JFKJohnson

The Women's Auxilary Pavilion

e JFK Hartwyck Nursing, Convalescent

Medical Imaging ESt Therapeutic

Sciences Mediplex Surgery Center

Rehabilitation

ESt Rehabilitation

Institute Centers

e Diabetes Center of New Jersey

65 James Street, P.O. Box 3059, Edison, New Jersey 08818-3059

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e New Jersey Neuroscience Muhlenberg @

Whispering

Institute

Schools of Nursing, Knoll - Assisted Living Community

(732) 321-7000

www.solarishs.org

The Honorable Rashid Burney

-2-

February 19,2009

I would like the Council to know that the City's delay has cost Solaris Health System significant time, money and resources, all of which could have been used to provide healthcare services to our communities. I am appalled by City officials' suggestions that Solaris has somehow failed to abide by an "agreement", which the City negotiated and then refused to sign. Furthermore, I am dismayed that City officials would publicly attack Solaris for delaying this process when it is the City of Plainfield that walked away from the negotiating table for nearly three months even though the Mayor and her Administration were fully aware of the serious impact such a delay would have on the Muhlenberg Campus, JFK Medical Center and the rest of Solaris Health System's facilities. Please be assured that I do intend to resume discussions with the Robinson-Briggs Administration once I have discussed the City's new demands with the Solaris Health System Board of Directors at its next meeting. In the meantime, I ask that the Plainfield City Council refrain from attacking this organization and deepening the fissures that have been created between Plainfield and its largest healthcare provider.

Sincerely,

CC:

Members, Plainfield City Council Assemblyman Jerry Green Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs