Affordable Care Act prompts hospital’s 100 million campaign

Listen to this article

The Foundation for Morristown Medical Center on Thursday announced a campaign to raise $100 million over the next few years, and said the initiative was motivated by the financial pressures on hospitals from the Affordable Care Act.In its announcement, the foundation said the campaign “will help the hospital maintain high-quality medical services as Affordable Care Act provisions take hold, reducing reimbursements at medical facilities across the nation.”

The foundation, the fundraising arm of the medical center, said the official launch of “Campaign 3SIXTY” will be Thursday night at Hartley Farms in New Vernon, an event that will be attended by hundreds of donors, volunteers, hospital officials and community leaders.

On Thursday, Morristown Medical officially went public with the campaign, which actually began in 2012 with a “silent” phase. During that phase, the hospital raised $78.6 million of the $100 million goal, according to Jim Quinn, chief development officer at the foundation.
           
“Campaign 3SIXTY reflects the incredible transformation currently taking place in the health care industry,” said Dr. David Shulkin, president of Morristown Medical Center and vice president of Atlantic Health System.  “Our many new initiatives and new models of care, funded by our generous donors, will provide better care coordination and management.”

Campaign 3SIXTY is supporting traditional priorities, such as rehabilitation services, maternity, breast cancer, emergency room and intensive care. It will also fund first-ever initiatives, such as atrial fibrillation, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, personalized genomic medicine, head and neck cancer, healthy aging and palliative care.

“This is the first time that we formed a comprehensive campaign,” Quinn said. “In the past we’ve had a very successful string of campaigns for particular buildings. This time around we did a strategic plan and we went to each clinical service and department and asked for their long-range plans. So many donors have a particular interest in a clinical area, based on where they were treated, and they could see something in this campaign that they could get passionate about. “
             
“This campaign is truly a 360-degree approach,” agreed Finn Wentworth, campaign chairman.  “Historically, fundraising campaigns were silo events, meaning the process raised money for one specific area at an institution. This is our first campaign that will spread holistically throughout the entire hospital, raising funds for a range of clinical services, construction and modernization.”
 
Quinn said so far the campaign has raised 19 gifts of $1 million or more. “I don’t think we would have done that well with a single building campaign or for one clinical service.”

Morristown Medical said it is positioning itself for the newer models of care and better environments of care will be needed in the years ahead to lower costs yet maintain quality.

“We want to continue to be one of the leading medical centers in the country, so future generations in our region can get top flight medical care, close to home,” Quinn said.