TRENTON (AP) — Two South Jersey hospital systems are battling over a bill before the state Legislature that would change paramedic and ambulance services in Camden.

Assembly Chambers
Assembly Chambers (Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)
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The bill would give Level 1 trauma centers exclusive rights to run emergency medical services in their cities.

Two of them — University Hospital in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick — already have the contracts in their cities.

But Cooper University Hospital does not have the contract in Camden. The hospital says that it could improve health in the city by running both the paramedic and ambulance services.

Currently, University Hospital provides ambulances and Marlton-based Virtua Health System provides paramedics.

Virtua is been complaining about an abrupt change, which could be voted on by the entire Legislature later this month.

 

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