The opening last winter of the $714 million Helena Theurer Pavilion at Hackensack University Medical Center — the first-ever “smart’’ hospital of its kind — likely would have been enough to propel Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Bob Garrett to the top of the ROI Influencers: Health Care list.
The 530,000-square-foot, nine-story building — which includes 24 operating rooms, 72 post-anesthesia care unit beds, 50 ICU beds, 175 med/surg beds, six da Vinci robots and surgical systems — is that impressive.
Here is what is even more impressive: It’s just one of a multitude of reasons why Garrett is in the top spot on the list for the third time in the six years of the list.
Consider:
- HMH has the top-ranked adult and children’s hospitals in New Jersey, according to the highly coveted U.S. News & World Report rankings.
- The network’s comprehensive and robust Social Determinants of Health program is a national leader, screening 840,000 patients and providing 2.7 million referrals for community services people may not even know exist. Additionally, the program includes a seven-day meal delivery plan for at-risk hospital patients upon discharge.
- The “Reimagining HMH” initiative, which began with pandemic-related financial recovery, has evolved, encompassing more than 500 projects, aligning and integrating the organization and enhancing revenue while reducing expenses. The network has achieved $1 billion in cost reduction and revenue generation so far.
Not enough? You want more buildings?
Well, HMH invested $39 million in Raritan Bay Medical Center to open the network’s first Long Term Acute Care Hospital, which offers 30 private rooms to accommodate patients that need specialized services and programs. Also included in this project is Carrier Behavioral Health at Raritan Bay, an expanded 81-bed inpatient unit to treat mental illness and addiction, which opened at the end of September.
More? How about health equity efforts?
In 2023, HMH was ranked as the No. 1 ranked health system in the U.S. by Fair360 (formerly Diversity Inc.) based on six measures: leadership accountability, human capital diversity metrics, talent programs, workforce practices, supplier diversity and philanthropy.
For all these reasons and more, Garrett is the No. 1 selection for the 2023 ROI-NJ Influencers: Health care list.
Pick six
This is the sixth year of the ROI Influencers: Health Care rankings. A look at the past No. 1 selections:
- 2022: Kevin O’Dowd and Anthony Mazzarelli (Cooper University Health Care)
- 2021: The behavioral health community
- 2020: Judith Persichilli (Department of Health)
- 2019: Bob Garrett (Hackensack Meridian Health) and Barry Ostrowsky (RWJBarnabas Health)
- 2018: Bob Garrett (HMH)
A look at the honorees:
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