By Healthcare Facilities Today

In the last 20 years, New Jersey has lost 26 hospitals, many in poor, urban neighborhoods that are left with abandoned buildings, according to an article in The New York Times.

Recently, however, developers have turned these structures into private medical complexes that offer many of the services the hospitals once provided.

Since 2008, developers have bought hospitals in Paterson, Jersey City, Hammonton and Trenton, converting them into "medical malls" that house urgent care centers, doctors’ offices and dialysis centers.

While critics worry that these new medical complexes may siphon off paying patients from hospitals and ignore charity care, these buildings are often ideal for medical uses — an emergency department can be repurposed as an urgent care center. Existing operating rooms can be used for outpatient surgical centers. And an inpatient floor is a natural fit for a subacute care facility, according to the article.

Read the article.