Hackensack Meridian Health Hospitals Nationally Ranked for Savings Performance in Medicare Orthopedic Program

Hackensack Meridian Health leads New Jersey with the most hospitals ranked in the top 25.

Hackensack Meridian Health’s hospitals realized some of the highest shared savings in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) program. This is the second year in a row that Hackensack Meridian Health’s hospitals have ranked among the best in the nation in terms of quality and savings in the CJR program – a program that aims to foster better and efficient care among Medicare patients receiving a hip or knee replacement.

In the program’s second performance period, Hackensack Meridian Health and its participating surgeons saved $7.74 million among their Medicare joint replacement patients. Four of the network’s hospitals ranked in the top five percent of hospitals nationally for shared savings:

Hackensack University Medical Center placed fourth out of 721 total hospitals, saving more than $1,000,000 in its second performance period

Ocean Medical Center placed 11th

Riverview Medical Center placed 24th

Jersey Shore University Medical Center placed 38th

Hackensack Meridian Health is the only health network in New Jersey to have multiple hospitals rank in the top 25 for shared savings.

Hip and knee replacements are the most common inpatient surgery for Medicare beneficiaries and can require lengthy recovery and rehabilitation periods. Medicare paid for more than 400,000 knee and hip replacements in 2014, according to the federal government.

“Hackensack Meridian Health’s continued success in this important Medicare program is thanks to its collaboration with us – their community orthopedic surgeons,” said Harlan B. Levine, M.D., orthopedic surgeon at Hartzband Center for Hip & Knee Replacement. “Together we were able to find innovative ways to achieve our shared goal of delivering high quality, coordinated patient care.”

Hackensack Meridian Health worked with its community’s orthopedic surgeons to enhance its orthopedic care program at every level. Under the guidance of its physician partners, Hackensack Meridian Health increased pre-surgical education, improved pain management protocols, and implemented new home care procedures aimed at keeping patients healthy at home during recovery. These improvements led to Hackensack Meridian Health experiencing success in Medicare’s CJR program for the second time.

“By listening to and partnering with surgeons, we were able to help Hackensack Meridian Health implement meaningful change that benefited our orthopedic patients at every stage of their care journey,” said Joseph P Bogdan, M.D., orthopedic surgeon at Brielle Orthopedics at Rothman.

Hackensack Meridian Health received back approximately $3.68 million of the savings it realized in the second performance period and has dispersed a substantial portion of that savings back to its participating surgeons for them to invest in furthering patient care.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include 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, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 34,100 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network’s notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker’s Healthcare’s “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2018” list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

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.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.