Geico Drops Lawsuit Against Secaucus Hospital

SECAUCUS, NJ — Geico auto insurer has now dropped its lawsuit against Hudson Regional Hospital, Patch has learned.

It is quite common for auto insurers to sue healthcare providers over billing disputes, particularly after someone is involved in a car accident and their medical bills run high. Geico filed the suit in U.S. federal court, Eastern District, and named Hudson Regional's owner Yan Moshe, his wife Dr. Regina Moshe, Hudson Regional's top doc, Dr. Nizar Kifaieh and CitiMed, also owned by Moshe.

Claims were dismissed against all the parties.

As Patch reported, Moshe is attempting a hostile takeover bid of the Bayonne Medical Center from BMC Hospital LLC. Several principals at BMC Hospital LLC have been similarly sued by car insurance companies, ranging from All State to State Farm.

"Geico is notorious for filing these insurance fraud lawsuits," said Dr. Kifaieh, the top doctor at Hudson Regional. "They rely on the hope that people will back down and just settle. But this lawsuit they voluntarily dismissed, which is great. To be honest, it was an expected outcome. We were going to fight this."

"It's a huge sign that Geico wants to work with us," he added. "I think they see we are a quality system and they want to work with us."

Moshe is still trying to move forward with his hostile takeover attempt of Bayonne Medical Center from CarePoint Health System, which owns it. Moshe made a deal to buy the land on which Bayonne Medical Center sits, but so far has been stymied in his efforts to assume actual hospital operations. He also would like to take over operations at the Hoboken hospital and Christ in the Jersey City Heights, also owned by CarePoint.

CarePoint even filed a restraining order earlier this year against Moshe and Dr. Kifaieh, seeking to block them from any future involvement in negotiations involving the sale of the two hospitals. The restraining order was tossed by a judge.

Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise has gotten involved, asking Gov. Murphy if the state can seize the Hoboken and Bayonne hospitals via eminent domain. Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and Union City Mayor Brian Stack all signed the letter.

The signature of Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli, a Moshe ally, was noticeably missing from that letter.

Instead of Moshe, CarePoint wants to sell Bayonne hospital to a limited liability corporation called BMC Hospital LLC, composed of Wayne Hatami, Anthony Degradi, Feliks Kogan and Gregg Rock of DMC, a subsidiary of Surgicorps.

"Hudson County is a small area that has a tremendous amount of people," said Dr. Kifaieh, explaining the battle to dominate the Hudson County healthcare landscape.

"We have no idea why they don't want to sell to us," said Dr. Kifaieh. "They are losing money. Imagine what we could have done in this one year for Bayonne hospital if they had let us come in. We could have turned it into something that is profitable and high quality. It is a puzzle to us."

"For now, they have a sinking ship, which is Bayonne Hospital, which continues to lose money over time," he said. "They've laid people off, they've cut services. Instead of going through all this madness, we say why don't you let us come in and save this hospital."

Moshe took over operations of Hudson Regional Hospital in 2018; it used to be Meadowlands Hospital. Since taking ownership, he's been on an aggressive quest to turn the hospital's reputation around — and expand his footprint in Hudson County.