NJHA celebrates 2020 health care awards

At theNew Jersey Hospital Association's 101st Annual Meeting at the Hyatt RegencyPrinceton on FridayHRET (Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey) Community Outreach,
NJHA Excellence in Quality Improvement, andNJHA Healthcare Leader Awards awards were distributed to industry leaders from across the state.
NJHA’s 2020 Distinguished Service Award was presented to John DiAngelo, president and chief executive officer of Inspira Health. DiAngelo dedicated more than three decades to the health care industry,including two of those at Inspira Health. He became president and CEO of Inspira in 2014 andrecently announced his retirement at the end of 2020.
The 2020 Health Care Professional of the Year award was presented to Dr. Meena Murthy,chief of the division of endocrinology, nutrition and metabolism; director of the Thyroid andDiabetes Center; and director of the South Asian Institute at Saint Peter's University Hospital.Murthy took the lead in partnering with the Shri Krishna Nidhi Foundation to develop theSouth Asian Diabetes Education and Resource Center at the Saint Peter’s South Asian Institute, acomprehensive prevention program providing education, screening, referral and support.
The NJHA Trustee of the Year award was presented to Marc Berson, chairman of the corporateboard of trustees for RWJBarnabas Health. Berson spent more than 18 years as chairman of theboard of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and The Children’s Hospital of New Jersey. He isthe founder and chair of The Fidelco Group, a private investment owner-developer of residential,commercial, retail and industrial properties, and has used his expertise in the support thecontinued revitalization of the City of Newark.
NJHA awarded a pair of Special Recognition awards, commemorating the achievements of twopillars of the New Jersey health care community: Richard Keenan, executive vice president andchief financial officer for Valley Health System, and Gordon Litwin, partner at Litwin &Provence LLC, and chairman of the Hackensack Meridian Health board of trustees.
NJHA, through its Institute for Quality and Patient Safety, also honored one acute care and onepost-acute provider for Excellence in Quality Improvement, in recognition of the health careorganizations' advances in quality improvement and patient safety:St. Luke’s Warren Campus andPrograms for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).
St. Luke’s Warren Campus addressed its growing concerns about C. difficile, an antibiotic-resistantinfection of the digestive system, with a unique series of staff education tools. The“Stomping out Spores” team addressed the root causes of the spread of the infection, thenimplemented an interactive education experience called “Room of Horrors” that demonstratedthe importance of hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, proper cleaning of equipmentand cross-contamination prevention.
PACE are federal programs designed toprovide medical and social care in community settings to individuals who would otherwise needto live in long-term care settings. As a PACE organization, Inspira LIFE utilized its ability toconsistently interact with patients to implement a program improving medication compliance among the diabetic population. Among its achievements, Inspira LIFE implemented a two-yearstudy with 37 patients to help them better manage their diabetesand savedan estimated $1.2 million in preventable health care costs.
HRET Community Outreach Awards
NJHA and its Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey recognize organizations thatidentify community needs and implement programs to serve those needs. These programs arejust a few examples of the more than $3 billion in community benefits that New Jersey hospitalsprovide annually.
In 2020, the behavioral health resiliency recognition went to Hackensack Meridian Health Carrier Clinic for its work expanding access and innovating treatment options for people with
mental illness and substance use disorders. The newly formed partnership between HMH and Carrier is a pioneer inproviding urgent care medically integrated with behavioral health.
For reducing disparities, the Virtua Health Foundation Inc. was recognized for theVirtua Pediatric Mobile Service program, which provides free services to children inunderserved and impoverished communities in South Jersey. Practitioners provide services suchas dental and developmental screenings, flu vaccinations and referrals to specialized services insettings where children ordinarily participate and are most convenient to families.
In the category of social determinants of health, Saint Peter’s University Hospital and RobertWood Johnson University Hospital were recognized for their combined efforts to improve livingconditions in New Brunswick through the Healthy Homes Project. The Healthy Homes Projectuses a cross-sector approach to ensure that all New Brunswick residents live in safe homes thatfacilitate healthy living.

CREDIT: Anthony Vecchione