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New Jersey Hospital System Stimulates Economy

PRINCETON, N.J.— The New Jersey Hospital System keeps surprising the nation with its contributions to the Garden State’s economy. This time around, the hospital system contributed a whopping $21 billion to the state economy in 2013.

Regardless of the overlapping change that the rest of the country seems to be experiencing with state health care systems, New Jersey’s is actually stimulating its surroundings, contributing to 144,000 full- and part-time jobs in 2013. With this increase in jobs comes an increase in goods and services provided to those employees and customers, as well as an increase in net state taxes paid. According to the New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) President and CEO Betsy Ryan, hospitals “continue to be a stable force of New Jersey’s economy by adding jobs while still giving back to their communities and providing $1.3 billion in charity care for the uninsured.”

The data gathered for this particular statistic was executed by the Hospitals Economic Impact Report, which consisted of a thorough economic study of about 72 hospitals and their economic subsidies both statewide and within the counties. The report in particular highlights a $2.8 billion increase in spending for goods and services from 2012, increasing such things as contracted labor, pharmaceuticals, utilities, building supplies and more. There was also a $400 million increase in employee salaries from 2012 as well. This increase in spending from these hospitals “provides economic stability through employment and revenue. And their economic investments in their facilities help expand infrastructure, purchase new technology and maintain a highly skilled workforce,” said Sean Hopkins, the senior vice president of health economics for NJHA, in a statement.

In a sense, the whole economy starts and ends with public services, and the fact that New Jersey’s health care system is still thriving and contributing heavily towards the well-being of the state is vital towards its survival. According to the Hospitals Economic Impact Report, the health care industry is the “only industry that has added jobs in the state every year from 1990 through 2013.” At this rate, the hospital system in the state will soon contribute alone to a 20 percent net job growth by the year of 2020. Soon, the hospital systems will become the leading employers in several different counties in New Jersey, as most hospitals provide several employee benefits, such as good health insurance coverage. Also, the services that these hospitals provide outside of the facility, such as local community health services and spending, are very meaningful and appeal to prospective employees that desire unparalleled service to their community.

Benefits and health care are important to an employee, but serving the community outside of their facilities could also prove to be a deciding factor in the hiring process. If the New Jersey hospital system keeps climbing at this rate, the hospitals could provide the majority of economic stimulation in the state and thus become a great example for other states throughout the country.

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Princeton HealthCare Studies New Prototype

PRINCETON, N.J. — Princeton HealthCare System is testing out an evidence-based-design patient room meant to study how a room’s layout impacts patient slip-and-fall incidents, medication mix-ups, and other hospital-related mishaps.

Once the design is finalized, PHCS will implement it at its new $447 million University Medical Center of Princeton facility that is scheduled to open up in Plainsboro, N.J., in early 2012.

PHCS recently completed work on two mock patient rooms at UMC of Princeton. The rooms’ designs are the result of a year of preliminary research, during which moveable foam core slabs were used to optimally configure walls, the bathroom, the bed and major furnishings.

The testing has already led to the implementation of several key design concepts, according to UCM of P officials. Key design-changes include the implementation of same-handed devices that reduce confusion of the staff. Another key feature is a touch-activated handrail, located between the bed and the bathroom that lights up when gripped.

Funded with a $2.8 million research grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the mock patient room initiative will play a key role in the design of the remaining 240 private patient rooms slated for the UMC of Princeton replacement hospital, according to Barry Rabner, President and CEO of the Princeton HealthCare System.

"We went out and toured 15 new hospitals around the country to take advantage of what their staff learned, both the good and the bad, and integrate that research into our plan," Rabner says. "By combining everyone’s best thinking, we ended up with a patient room that was really different from what anybody else had."

"When we started this project, we had several guiding principles that really helped us make our decisions," Rabner added. "For example, we wanted to ensure that the new building design led to reduced errors and infections, improved communications and clinical outcomes, and diminished operating costs."

Notable design improvements include the use of single-patient rooms, which Rabner says will abate the risk of infection and improve communication between caregivers and patients or family members. The new hospital will also allow for the circulation of fresh air to all patient rooms and areas.

Technology upgrades include beds that lower to within several inches from the floor, allowing patients to easily crawl in and out without having as great a risk of injuring themselves. The beds will also have the ability to weigh the patients, reducing the need to travel to or from a scale. Through the use of sensors the nursing staff will be notified if a patient is attempting to get out of bed unsupervised, says Rabner.

Televisions in each room will create another connection between patients and staff, Rabner says. The interactive TVs a method through which patients can order meals, a reference for technical knowledge on a patient’s treatment and recovery needs – as well as entertainment. Additionally, the television monitors will be able to prompt patients at regular intervals to input the amount of discomfort they are experiencing following disbursement of pain medications.

The greatest benefit to using the mock patient rooms is the ability to keep working its design, explains Rabner. Already, the mock environments have yielded several improvements.

"Room modifications have been items as simple as moving up an outlet on a wall or, in another instance, changing the color of a shower lip to provide greater differentiation between the floor and the shower," says Rabner. "Something we’re still trying to get right is the best place for the computer terminal needed for filling out electronic medical records."

Rabner added that a goal of the study was to address patient falls, which he said happen the majority of the time when a patient is walking across the room from the bed to the toilet.

"By placing the bathrooms on the same side as the beds, we eliminate the patient having to cross the room," Rabner says. "We’ve also installed a handrail that leads from the bed to the sliding door of the bathroom to the toilet."

Staff at UMC of Princeton is closely studying the use of online record keeping, primarily through the use of bedside computers and tablet devices that allow for doctors and nurses to conduct charting and other activities in the presence of the patient rather than at a computer terminal located elsewhere in the hospital.

PHCS plans to use its findings in its future facilities and share the results through conference presentations and published materials.

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N.J. Senate Pushes for New VA Hospital

TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey State Senate recently approved SR28, a resolution that asks the United States Congress to enact legislation establishing a regional veterans’ medical facility in southern New Jersey.

The is currently is no Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient medical center in the south part of the state. While the VA has established small clinics in Ventnor, Cape May and Vineland, they are only equipped to perform certain types of outpatient medical services. These regional clinics are often overwhelmed by a large number of veterans seeking care, forcing veterans to travel to northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Delaware to receive services, according to state legislators.

The copy of the state resolution has also been sent to President Obama and Vice President Biden, the Speaker Nancy Pelosi, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, and to the majority and minority leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

“This resolution will send a clear message to the federal government that the entire New Jersey Senate embraces the establishment of a veterans’ facility in the southern part of the state, and recognizes that veterans in our region deserve the same access to health care services as veterans in Wilmington, Philadelphia, and North Jersey,” says N.J. Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, who sponsored the resolution.

Passage of SR28 in the state legislature comes just weeks after the senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee held an off-site meeting at the Somers Point VFW Post in Atlantic County, where dozens of veterans told stories of having to travel for more than an hour, and sometimes taking daylong trips, to get to a veterans’ hospital.

Van Drew has also sponsored legislation to create a task force to study expanding healthcare services for veterans in southern New Jersey. Under the bill, the panel would be given a year to develop recommendations for the construction and operation of a veterans health care facility in the region, or for contracting with an existing health care facility to provide services to veterans.

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N.J. Hospital Modernization

NEWARK, N.J. — Phase one of a $225 million master planned construction project that will address the future needs of an outdated medical center is under way.

Saint Michael’s Medical Center in Newark, N.J., is a 357-bed hospital, teaching and research facility that was established in 1867. The medical center’s nine buildings, which total 750,000 square feet, are on average 66 years old. Phase one of the construction will add 220,000 square feet of new space, increasing the existing campus by 10 percent.

The project includes building a 120,000-square-foot, $48 million tower that will link the hospital’s main facility and the historic Annex Building. A new medical office building and 450-car parking garage are also part of phase one. Occupancy is slated for summer 2012.

“Our master plan centers around the tower building, which gives the hospital a true ‘hub’ of a 21st-century medical center,” says James Crispino, president of New York-based Francis Cauffman Architects, which is serving as project architect. “This focal point connects the existing buildings and creates a hospital that has greater capacity yet is more efficient, more compact, and easier for patients to use.”

Added to the four-story tower will be an expanded emergency department, clinical services, and three floors of beds. A lobby and patient access center, gift shop, and auditorium will also be built. Looking toward the future, the tower building can expand vertically three more stories. The medical office building will contain physician offices, ambulatory services, and ground-level retail space.

Future phases include demolition of three older buildings. Developers plan to construct a new medical education building, a cancer center, and St. Michael’s Court, a new vehicle entrance to the campus. Additionally, some of the campuses historic hospital buildings will be converted into retail space, administrative offices, and living quarters for medical residents.

Exponential growth in the community as well as numerous facility closings resulting in reductions in services at Essex County hospitals have resulted in increased demands on SMMC. The new project is designed to address the immediate needs of the community while allowing for future growth.

Francis Cauffman coordinated its master planning efforts with the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Newark Museum, and Rutgers University as part of Newark’s $1 billion Broad Street Station District Redevelopment Plan.

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