New Jersey Health System Review
By: Pratik Thakur
Date Published: October 14th, 2021
Major Hospital & Health Systems:
- Hackensack Meridian: New Jersey’s largest comprehensive health care network with 17 hospitals which consist of three academic medical centers, nine community hospitals, two children’s hospitals, two rehabilitation hospitals, and a behavioral health hospital. Its John Theurer Cancer Center is part of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium. In 2018, it founded the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
- RWJBarnabas Health: In 2016, after the Barnabas Health and Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Health merger formed RWJBarnabas Health, this system became one of the largest with 11 hospitals that serve over 5 million patients per year. Additionally, the system has geriatric centers, women’s health, ambulatory care, a behavior health network, and home care/hospice services. Lastly, they have the only certified burn treatment center in the state. Academically, RWJBarnabas Health works with Rutgers University.
- Cooper University Health Care: Primarily operating in Southern New Jersey, Cooper University Health Care has a wide array of services for the public in Camden. They are part of the Cooper Medical of Rowan University. Furthermore, in 2013, it worked with the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center to create a center with Cooper.
- Atlantic Health System: The system has 7 hospitals and centers across New Jersey and has a range of other facilities as well: outreach, speciality, and rehabilitation. Its Morristown Medical Center is the #1 New Jersey hospital.
- Kessler Institute: Located in West Orange, NJ, the Kessler Institute specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R), being the largest single rehabilitation hospital in the U.S. They have treatments for a wide range of injuries/diseases such as spinal cord and brain injuries and stroke/neurological diseases.
In the Commonwealth Fund’s 2020 Scorecard, New Jersey’s status is indicated. They have said yes to Medicaid Expansion to cover more individuals in their state. Within New Jersey, access, affordability, avoidable hospital use/cost, and disparities are all below average compared to the average in the U.S. while they are above average for prevention, treatment, and healthy lives.
Major Private Health Insurance Providers:
- Aetna Health
- Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
- Horizon HealthCare Services
- AmeriHealth
- Cigna Health
- Oxford Health
- UnitedHealthcare
- Connecticut General Life
Public Health Insurance Programs:
- Medicare: Approximately 1.6 million residents use Medicare in 2020, and a third of beneficiaries have Medicare Advantage in which they have between 11 to 43 Medicare Advantage plans to choose from. 87% of Medicare enrollees are so because of age while the remaining 13% have other qualifying purposes. The per enrollee spending for the original Medicare is $10,793 in 2018 which is 7% above the national average at $10,096.
- Medicaid: In the Kaiser Family Foundation report in October 2019, it underlines New Jersey’s Medicaid status. With a population of 8.8 million at the time, 20% are less than 200% below the federal poverty line, and 17% of the population is covered by Medicaid & CHIP. As stated previously, they have agreed to Medicaid expansion which lead to 580,200 adults to be joined as part of this expansion group. Overall, the total New Jersey Medicaid spending is at $15 billion with 57% of that being for managed care services.
Health Quality & Care Indicators:
- Life expectancy at birth, 2018: 79.8 years, 9th in the U.S.
- Has health insurance coverage – crude rates, 2017: 89.4%
- Unable to get needed care due to cost – crude rates, 2017: 14.0%
- Has no personal doctor or health care provider – crude rates, 2017: 20.8%