Front view of Raritan Bay Medical Center which has now merged with Meridian Health. *Photo by Carolyn Maxwell
Merger With Region’s Leading Not-For-Profit Health Provider
Positions Hospitals in Perth Amboy and Old Bridge for Future Success
Press Release 1/4/16
NEPTUNE – Meridian Health has completed its merger with Raritan Bay Medical Center, adding Raritan Bay’s two campuses in Middlesex County – a 338-bed hospital in Perth Amboy and 113-bed hospital in Old Bridge – to its growing family as of January 1, 2016.
The merger follows state approval and due diligence review. Through the merger, Meridian and Raritan Bay will utilize their combined talent and resources to enhance access to care and improve clinical quality and service to the community, decrease costs through shared efficiencies and purchasing opportunities, and provide new academic and research opportunities for physicians, nurses, and clinicians.
“We are very excited to welcome the trustees, physicians, nurses, team members, and volunteers of Raritan Bay Medical Center to the Meridian team,” says John K. Lloyd, FACHE, president of Meridian Health. “The merger of Raritan Bay with Meridian will better position our organizations for the future, with continued growth of outstanding care throughout Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Middlesex counties.”
While Meridian Health serves primarily Monmouth and Ocean counties and parts of Middlesex County, Raritan Bay services Middlesex County and parts of Northern Monmouth County. The combined entity has eight hospitals — Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, Ocean Medical Center, Brick, Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank, Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital, Holmdel, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital, Neptune, Raritan Bay Medical Center, Old Bridge and Raritan Bay Medical Center, Perth Amboy — and a network of physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers, home care, long-term care and assisted living facilities, ambulance services, fitness and wellness centers, and outpatient centers.
Meridian Health will now serve a regional population of about 1.5 million residents, and the system will employ approximately 15,000 team members, have more than 2,700 physicians on staff, offer more than 2,300 acute hospital beds, and have more than 81,000 annual inpatient admissions.
“With shared missions and values, this partnership will provide many benefits to patients, including expansion of services currently available at Raritan Bay and enhanced access to the full continuum of services available at Meridian through a coordinated and seamless fashion,” says Michael R. D’Agnes, FACHE, president and CEO of Raritan Bay Medical Center.
Raritan Bay Medical Center is a New Jersey state-designated primary stroke center, a recipient of the American Stroke Association/American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines® – Stroke Silver Plus Performance and Heart Failure Gold Performance Achievement Awards, recognizing the optimal care of stroke and heart failure patients respectively. Raritan Bay is one of a few hospitals in the world to achieve Magnet Recognition for nursing excellence three times. Raritan Bay is also a recipient of the AHA’s Mission: Lifeline®EMS Silver Award for implementing quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients experiencing severe heart attacks. The Joslin Diabetes Center, Affiliate at Raritan Bay Medical Center provides the latest advances for treating diabetes and its complications as well as patient education and support services. Among its flagship programs are the Human Motion Institute, a comprehensive musculoskeletal program, and Institute for Weight Loss, specializing in bariatric surgery. Raritan Bay provides specialty services for wound healing, sleep medicine, women’s health, balance, pulmonary rehabilitation and physical therapy.
“Our primary focus has always been our extended family—our communities,” says Lloyd. “From care coordination to prevention and treatment strategies, we remain focused on not only improving outcomes and overall health, but in also reducing health inequities. This merger will allow us to extend these efforts to a larger segment of the population.”
Meridian Health and Hackensack University Health Network also signed a definitive agreement to merge on May 12, 2015. That merger still requires state and regulatory clearance.
About Meridian Health:
A leading not-for-profit health care organization in New Jersey, comprising Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, and Meridian Partner Companies that include home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, ambulatory care, ambulance services, fitness and wellness centers, and outpatient centers. In May, Meridian Health and Hackensack University Health Network signed a definitive agreement to merge. Meridian Health has consistently been rated among the top performing health systems in New Jersey for clinical quality, is one of the FORTUNE “100 Best Companies to Work For” for six consecutive years, and is the recipient of numerous state and national recognitions for patient care and nursing excellence. Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium alongside six of the nation’s leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies. With more than 100 convenient locations, over 1,800 beds, nearly 13,000 team members, and affiliations with more than 2,000 of the area’s finest physicians, Meridian Health is a leading health care provider in New Jersey, providing quality health services, facilities, and programs. For more information, please visit www.MeridianHealth.com.
