Hospital Executives from Cooper University Hospital, CentraState Healthcare System and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital discuss construction plans.

At the same time, however, a warning was sounded that the present healthcare system in New Jersey is “fragile” because of the disparity between hospital costs, particular for Medicaid and Medicare patients, and reimbursements from the state.

John P. Sheridan, Jr., Senior Executive Vice President, Cooper University Hospital being interviewed by NJN News.

The conference chairman, Robert M. Gerard, Executive Vice President of PMK Group, said the healthcare construction projects throughout the state would total $1.5 billion over 2007-2009. He stressed that much of the work would be expansions of emergency facilities to meet the growing demand.

Valerie Sellers, Senior Vice President, Health Planning and Research of the New Jersey Hospital Association, declared that the state’s healthcare system is “not working.” She cited statistics that 21 hospitals have closed over the last 15 years, 3 have filed for bankruptcy and 6,500 jobs have been eliminated. She said that hospitals are receiving reimbursements of only 73 cents on the dollar for Medicaid and 89 cents for Medicare.

Panel discussion with Anthony Bastardi from Construction Technology Corp, Clare Morris Broderick from Morris Johnson & Associates, Suzanne Brown from NK Architects and Peter Syrett from Gunther 5 Architects.

Among the major expansion and construction projects reported today were:

• John P. Sheridan, Jr. Senior Executive Vice President of Cooper University Hospital in Camden, outlined a total of $445 million in current and planned projects. They include a new pavilion, parking garage, medical school, stem cell building and neighborhood improvements.
• CentraState Health Care System in Freehold reported $96 million for an ambulatory campus and expansion of assisted living facilities.
• Richard Schrumpf, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, discussed nearly $400 million in construction, including an academic medical center campus, Children’s Specialized Hospital, a medical office building and the new Christopher Reeve Stem Cell Institute, for which ground will be broken this summer.
• Atlantic Health System, including facilities at Morristown Memorial Hospital’s radiology and emergency department and a heart hospital and Overlook Hospital in Summit, which features a cancer center expansion and a medical office building already completed.
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s $300 million project which includes a parking garage, diagnostic and treatment building and a northwest pavilion.
• Hackensack University Medical Center, which is finalizing plans to build an outpatient cancer treatment center and 1,000-space parking garage.