In a published opinion Thursday, the Appellate Division rejected claims from a group of New Jersey hospital that a charity care program requiring it to provide care to all patients, regardless of ability to pay, was considered an unconstitutional taking.

A group of 14 licensed for-profit and nonprofit hospitals challenged a charity care statute, New Jersey’s Medicaid Plan, and corresponding regulations that compel it to use medicine, equipment and services to provide patient care regardless of ability to pay, without an adequate subsidy to make up the financial shortfall. In Englewood Hospital and Medical Center v. New Jersey, the plaintiffs argued that this scheme amounted to an unconstitutional taking and that the Mercer County Superior Court erred when it dismissed certain plaintiffs’ claims for a lack of ripeness and failure to exhaust administrative remedies, according to the opinion.