Cathy Bennett is CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association.
On the one-year anniversary of the state’s peak COVID-19 hospitalizations, she talked about cooperation among health care entities during the pandemic, and going forward.
“My first reaction, truthfully, is how proud I am that our entire membership — 72 acute care hospitals, 325 specialty hospitals and all our long-term care providers — pulled together to respond to this pandemic. … There was just this tremendous collegiality and openness to sharing information and best practices. It was phenomenal. … We’ve got to work to maintain that level of connectivity. We had times when people were low on (personal protective equipment) and, knowing what was available in other places, we were able to pick up the phone and make a call. I hope that can be part of the new normal. We’ve always seen a level of competition. I think the new normal is going to be what I call, ‘co-op-er-ti-tion.’ A little cooperation, a little bit of competition. I think the two need to come together.”