Sunday, December 8, 2013
NEW JERSEY SUNDAY HERALD
Local / A—13
Annual Atlantic Health meeting offers something extra By ROB JENNINGS rjennings@njherald.com MORRISTOWN — Atlantic Health System’s annual public meeting was nearly over when James Strandberg rose from his seat in the audience and raised an especially vexing topic. “Why is it so difficult to find out in advance how much money it is going to cost you when you stay at the hospital?” Strandberg said, to some knowing laughter. With Newton Medical Center President Thomas Senker among the executives listening, Morristown Medical Center President David Shulkin offered a response. “I think you’ve identified something our industry needs to do a lot better,” Shulkin said, noting the inherent unpredictability of treating an emergency room patient. “It’s bad enough when you’re sick. It’s worse when you get surprised about the cost,” Shulkin said. Thursday’s meeting stemmed from a 2008 state law requiring general hospitals and state psychiatric hospitals to hold a public meeting, on at least a yearly basis, for discussing issues relating to the operation of the hospital and delivery of services. The law is opposed by the New Jersey Hospital Association, whose members include Atlantic Health, Saint Clare’s Health System and Hackettstown Regional Medical Center. The association, among its reasons, cites generally low attendance and the cost of holding the meetings. The three Republican state legislators from District 24, which includes all of Sussex County, are the lone sponsors of legislation that would repeal the law. Turnout for the Atlantic Health meeting, though, was much higher than has been reported elsewhere. While Atlantic Health previously said its 2012 meeting did not draw a single member of the public, more than 60 people showed up for the 85-minute meeting at Morristown Medical Center, and most were not affiliated with the hospital. By contrast, no one from the public
attended Hackettstown Regional Medical Center’s meeting held at 11 a.m. Thursday, spokeswoman Lisa Dimiceli said. About two dozen people attended Saint Clare’s Health System’s annual meeting in Denville on Nov. 25. Saint Clare’s operates a health center in Sussex Borough. Atlantic Health is the parent company of the hospitals in Newton and Morristown, as well as Goryeb Children’s Hospital and Overlook Medical Center in Summit. Newton Medical Center, then known as Newton Memorial Hospital, joined the network in 2011. In seeking to boost turnout, Atlantic Health made an effort to transform its required meeting into a cheery and much-publicized health festival. Doors opened 45 minutes before the 7:15 p.m. meeting, held inside the Malcolm Forbes Amphitheater. Arrivals were offered chair massages and a bevy of health-related pamphlets ranging from stroke awareness and a chronic angina checklist to an atrial fibrillation guide. Recipes were passed out for healthy, yet tasty meals, such as crust-less salmon quiche with dill. Two therapy dogs named Jenna and Larry charmed everyone. The meetings at Hackettstown Regional Medical Center and Saint Clare’s were less ambitious than what Atlantic Health organized. Dimiceli said the lone speaker in Hackettstown was the hospital’s president, Jason Coe. At Saint Clare’s, President Leslie D. Hirsch spoke about the Affordable Care Act and current and planned initiatives at the health system, spokeswoman Stephanie Galloway said. “While Saint Clare’s provides a wide range of community outreach, screenings and education throughout the year, there was not a health fair or other screening provided during the annual public meeting,” Galloway said in an email. In Morristown, none of the Atlantic Health representatives voiced an opinion on the 2008 law. William D. Neigher, vice president
Photo by Daniel Freel/New Jersey Herald
Melissa Rivardo, left standing, and Jennie Henry, integrated medical practitioners, provide massages to several women Thursday during Atlantic Health System’s annual public meeting at Morristown Medical Center. for system development and chief strategy officer at Atlantic Health, told the audience, “This is really a shareholder meeting because you are, in fact, our shareholders.” “We are a community trust,” he said. The lone sponsors of the repeal bill, which was introduced last fall and remains stalled in Trenton, are State Sen. Steve Oroho and Assembly members Alison Littell McHose and Parker Space, all Republicans from District 24. Their bill appears to have no chance of gaining approval in the Democraticcontrolled Legislature. Oroho and McHose both voted in favor of the meeting bill in 2008, whose only “no” votes were cast by three Republican lawmakers from Morris County. However, Oroho said in January that the local delegation was swayed by the hospital association’s objections. Kerry McKean Kelly, a spokeswoman for the hospital association, said last week that patient advocates and community relations employees offer residents sufficient opportunity to provide year-round feedback.
The hospital association estimates that meeting expenses, including required legal advertising, refreshments, use of facilities and staff overtime, average about $3,000 per event. Space, who took office in March, replaced former Assemblyman Gary Chiusano as a sponsor. Chiusano, too, voted for the public meeting requirement in 2008. Galloway, asked about the law, said in an email, “While Saint Clare’s Health System has provided its annual public community meetings to offer insight on the current and future state of health care, traditionally these meetings have not been well-attended.” “We will continue to meet requirements determined by the State of New Jersey,” Galloway said. George White, executive director of the New Jersey Press Association, said Tuesday he has concerns about the bill and is monitoring it, but that his organization has not taken a formal position. Atlantic Health’s meeting opened with an hour-long presentation including remarks by Senker, who is stepping
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aside Jan. 1, and Paul Owens, medical director for clinic affairs at Newton Medical Center. Overlook Medical Center President Alan Lieber also spoke. Owens offered a nostalgic perspective on the Newton hospital’s origins. He drew a comparison to TV’s Cheers, the place “where everyone knows your name.” “If you didn’t know the person we were treating, there was a good chance you knew someone who knew them,” he said. He acknowledged the poignant emotions felt by many at the merger with Atlantic Health, equating it to a father walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. “Our vision is to make our communities the healthiest in the nation,” Owens said. Senker acknowledged the ongoing transformation in Sussex County. “Medicine has changed, and so has Newton Medical Center,” he said. Senker discussed the hospital’s preventative care efforts, including an initiative aimed at eighth graders and combating heroin use. “We have kids that are dying from heroin overdoses, and it just shouldn’t happen in today’s world,” Senker said. Of the audience questions, the first was a technical query about positron emission tomography (PET) scans, a radiology procedure typically used in coordination with diagnostic tests. Following Strandberg’s query, a woman from Summit, who declined to identify herself, asked if patients needed to participate in a health plan accepted by the hospital. Shulkin, in response, said, “It’s really tough to say this, but, it depends.” He said that Atlantic Health accepts most, but not all, insurance plans and drew a distinction between arriving at the emergency room, where everyone is treated as needed, and elective care. Thursday’s meeting included a presentation by Shulkin on the Affordable Care Act. Shulkin, citing polling, said that only 56 percent of New Jersey residents realize that the mandate for buying insurance takes effect in January.
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