HMH’s Garrett outlines plan to open five ambulatory care centers

Hackensack Meridian Health has grown into one of the two major health systems in the state by adding numerous hospitals in recent years.

Moving forward, part of its growth will come in a different way: ambulatory care centers.

CEO Bob Garrett said the system has plans to open five such centers in the coming years: in Eatontown, Clark, Clifton, Paramus and Hackensack.

The centers will be of different sizes — potentially ranging from 50,000 square feet to up to 300,000 square feet — and serve different purposes. For example, Paramus may have an emphasis on neurology, while the Hackensack location may specialize in women’s oncology.

Regardless of location, size or emphasis, Garrett said all fill a basic need of more care delivered close to home in a format that is growing in preference.

“When we studied where services are needed and where people want to utilize them — closer to home, so they didn’t have to come to, say, a hospital-based outpatient department — those locations popped up as really areas of need,” he said.

The need comes in many forms. Garrett said the locations often will be near major roadways, increasing access — or in areas where overall health care access is lacking. Garrett noted that the centers will not necessarily be near existing hospitals in the system, as they have in the past.

“I think you’ll start to see with these locations, and others that are being planned, that Hackensack Meridian will add a presence in areas of our state where we don’t necessarily have a hospital, but where we think there is a need for these types of services,” he said.

The services available will vary, depending on the needs in the locations.

Garrett said the larger centers may prove to be a one-stop shop for health care.

“In the larger model, they could include urgent care, ambulatory surgery, imaging, physical therapy, a whole variety of things,” he said. “They could be a mini-health center.”

And a mini-cancer center.

Garrett said the system’s highly regarded John Theurer Cancer Center, as well as its partnerships with NCI Georgetown Lombardi and Memorial Sloan Kettering, will enable Hackensack Meridian to bring more cancer care to the state.

“I foresee ambulatory cancer centers at several of these ambulatory care locations as time goes on, because I think we have something unique to offer to the community in terms of getting that world-class cancer treatment closer to people’s homes in the community,” he said. 

While HMH has five such centers on the drawing board, Garrett said he foresees more coming in a post-pandemic world.

“This is another trend that certainly started before the pandemic, but there’s no doubt that it’s picked up steam because of the pandemic and because of people’s reluctance maybe to come into big hospital centers and wanting to receive these kinds of services,” he said. “Our goal is to provide them locally and in convenient locations.”

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Reach Hackensack Meridian Health at: hackensackmeridianhealth.org or call 844-464-9355.