Organizations in Camden, Trenton, Newark & Paterson will collaborate to further NJ health priorities
In an effort to establish better health outcomes across the state, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Regional Health Hub program into law on Tuesday.
Through a unique position as health leaders in their communities, the hubs will support the State of New Jersey’s health priorities by providing health care data infrastructure and analysis, supporting care management, and convening community stakeholders in close coordination with the Office of Medicaid Innovation.
The legislation – which will go into effect immediately – names the Camden Coalition, along with Trenton Health Team, Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition, and the Health Coalition of Passaic County as New Jersey’s first Regional Health Hubs.
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Regional Health Hubs build upon and leverage previous state investments in public health. These organizations have made great strides in improving health for vulnerable New Jerseyans as Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations, and are now poised to make an even greater future impact as regional hubs.
Under this new model, each hub will serve as a local expert and conduit for state health priorities, convene multi-sector partners in their regions to take action on the state’s most urgent health needs, and operate or utilize a regional Health Information Exchange (HIE) to ensure that health and other data are accessible and useful.
“The Regional Health Hub model gives the Camden Coalition and our partners in Trenton, Newark, and Paterson the opportunity to use our collective strengths to improve the health of vulnerable New Jerseyans,” said Kathleen Noonan, chief executive officer of the Camden Coalition. “We are grateful to Majority Leader Greenwald and Sen. Vitale for their leadership in establishing Regional Health Hubs.”
Assembly Bill 5977/Senate Bill 4282 was sponsored in the Assembly by Democrats Louis Greenwald, D-6th District; Joann Downey, D-11th District; and Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-37th District.
The sponsors released the following joint statement:
“For the past several years, the Medicaid ACO Demonstration Project has developed into an essential apparatus for addressing New Jersey’s most difficult and persistent population health issues. By utilizing cutting edge technology and health information exchanges to determine the root causes of health issues impacting New Jersey communities, and by coordinating multi-sector partnerships to address those issues, these organizations have become a critical tool in how we identify and improve health outcomes in our state.
“By transitioning the ACO Demonstration Project into Regional Health Hubs, and by codifying the work they do, we can build upon this successful model and expand throughout the state. This law is laying the groundwork for further coordination between health care organizations which will lead to significant improvements in the overall health of residents throughout the state.”
Source: NJBIZ