News Release

Hackensack Meridian Health becomes charter member of NJII Ideation Program for Healthcare

Business Announcement

New Jersey Institute of Technology

New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) corporation, announces that Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's most comprehensive and integrated network of healthcare providers, has become the first member of NJII's Ideation Program for Healthcare, a cutting-edge innovation and incubation program designed to help create and launch the next wave of innovative problem-solving in healthcare technology, products and services, consistent with NJII's mission to be "an innovative research organization dedicated to scientific research, education, economic development and urban revitalization in New Jersey."

"Hackensack Meridian Health is New Jersey's most progressive health system; I feel as though it moves at light speed," said Tom Gregorio, senior executive director of NJII's Healthcare Delivery Systems Innovative laboratory (iLab). "Having the opportunity to partner with them provides an environment that spurs the creative and scientific process allowing us to curate a living laboratory of ideas that is very meaningful for our organization." NJII's Healthcare iLab Chief Innovation Officer, Tom Bartiromo, will lead the Ideation Program for Healthcare's efforts to advance the capabilities of Hackensack Meridian Health and other members in this space.

"At Hackensack Meridian Health we are leading the way in innovation, pushing the boundaries of medicine forward to create real change in people's lives," said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, co-CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health. "Innovation is really going to be a differentiating factor for Hackensack Meridian Health and together, in partnership with NJII, we will change the face of health care here in New Jersey and across the country."

"Hackensack Meridian Health is continually driving toward new solutions in health care," said Dr. Andrew L. Pecora, M.D., vice president, cancer services and chief innovation officer at the John Theurer Cancer Center, HackensackUMC. "Having access to NJII's Ideation Program Team during Hackensack Meridian Health's innovation sessions in this remarkable, large open space builds on our ongoing relationship with NJII that is furthering the development of research into new health care applications and technologies that may ultimately improve the lives of untold numbers of people."

"Our partnership with Hackensack Meridian Health capitalizes on our organizations' combined resources that we hope will have a dramatic impact on the future of healthcare in New Jersey and across the nation," said Dr. Donald Sebastian, president of NJII. "The healthcare market is overdue for a new disruptive technology that makes a marked improvement in the way healthcare technology products and services are provided to consumers. It is our belief that our new state-of-the-art Ideation Center will help spark our next wave of innovation."

The Ideation Program for Healthcare, of which Hackensack Meridian Health is a founding member, will be comprised of additional healthcare industry partners, leaders and other guests. In addition, members, such as Hackensack Meridian Health, gain exclusive access to the Ideation Center space for 30 days per year to explore their own inventive agenda. On its exclusive days in the Ideation Center space, Hackensack Meridian Health will be in charge of planning its own innovation sessions and it will determine the guest list, the agenda and the goals of the sessions.

"Our monthly meetings will be open to anyone within the Hackensack Meridian Health family or anyone affiliated with us (can participate). And this isn't just life sciences, this is information technology, best business practices -- it's anything you can think about that makes the healthcare experience, from beginning to end, better. Higher quality, lower cost," Pecora said.

NJII's Innovation Lab - Ideation Program for Healthcare is just one component of a larger innovation strategy that Hackensack Meridian Health is spearheading on its own to support the incubation, development and launch of new healthcare companies and technologies that will transform the healthcare industry. Hackensack Meridian Health expects that the innovative ideas developed at its Ideation Sessions at NJII's Ideation Program that prove to be viable marketplace concepts will be moved by inventors into the second phase of innovation at Hackensack Meridian Health's own proprietary Hackensack Meridian Health Innovation Center. This Center, which will be housed at the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian Health School of Medicine, will help kick-start companies. The third and final phase, will be an office of Portfolio Management housed at the Hackensack Meridian Health network headquarters.

NJII's Ideation Center, formally unveiled to the public in April, was specifically created as a "living lab" in STEM education and research. The NJII Ideation Center boasts large open spaces that enables an "ecosystem" of innovation and invention in science and technology. As a member of NJII's Ideation Program for Healthcare, Hackensack Meridian Health intends to leverage the combined skills of entrepreneurs, major corporations, research scientists, students and NJIT faculty to solve problems presented by the healthcare industry and work to accelerate innovative product launch activities within the healthcare sector. NJII's Ideation Program was launched to foster innovation and to move transformative ideas through a process that turns them into real-world products that are ultimately launched into the healthcare marketplace.

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About NJII

New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) is an NJIT corporation that applies the intellectual and technological resources of the state's science, technology and design university to challenges identified by industry partners. Through its Innovation Labs (iLabs), NJII brings NJIT expertise to key economic sectors, including healthcare delivery systems, bio-pharmaceutical production, civil infrastructure, defense and homeland security, and financial services.

The NJII Healthcare Delivery System's iLab is committed to improving healthcare through innovative programs and services including the Garden Practice Transformation Network that is moving more than 10,000 physicians from fee-for-service to value-based care as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative. Through the program, NJII will save more than $135 million in healthcare costs and improve the lives of more than 500,000 patients with chronic illnesses.

The iLab is also driving the healthcare technological revolution in our State through the New Jersey Health Information Network (NJHIN), a shared services platform developed by the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) and powered by NJII that is enabling statewide data sharing by connecting health information exchange organizations (HIE/HIO), hospitals, and clinicians together though admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) alerts, immunization data, and a Master Person Index that uniquely identifies patients across the healthcare continuum. Additionally, NJHIN's Use Cases are empowering more than 500 providers and over 20 Long Term and Post Acute Care (LTPAC) facilities to have access to State public health registries and other healthcare stakeholders' data sharing sources to assist them with accomplishing population health and improving clinical outcomes.

The iLab also partners with physicians to help them report on Federal and State administered quality improvement programs, including the Merit-based Incentive Payment Program (formerly Meaningful Use and Physician Quality Reporting System), the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program, and Accountable Care Organizations. Over the past six (6) years, the iLab has helped member providers receive more than $100 million in incentive payments. In 2016, NJII's member hospitals received more than $47.6 million in incentive payments.

About Hackensack Meridian Health

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated healthcare network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 13 hospitals, including two academic medical centers, two children's hospitals and nine community hospitals, physician practices, more than 120 ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 28,000 team members, more than 6,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in healthcare philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The Network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, the number one hospital in New Jersey as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women." Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

The hospitals of Hackensack Meridian Health include: academic medical centers - Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune; children's hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood.

For additional information, please visit HackensackMeridianHealth.org.


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