HACKENSACK, N.J. – A prominent New Jersey hospital has tightened ethics rules after its role in a scandal.

Among the changes approved Thursday for Hackensack University Medical Center is that board members will no longer be allowed to do business with the hospital.

The board includes some of the state’s most powerful contractors and business people.

The changes came as a result of a recommendations made by outside experts commissioned after the scandal tainted the hospital.

The hospital paid former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio $103,000 between 2004 and 2006. Coniglio was convicted this year of steering millions in state grants to the hospital.

Coniglio began serving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence on Monday.