AtlantiCare traces its roots to 1898. That’s when it debuted as Atlantic City Hospital and admitted its first patient — an 11-year-old boy with a broken leg. After more than 125 years – and a couple of name changes – the health care provider is still serving The World’s Playground.

And while there’s plenty to look back on, AtlantiCare is future focused. Earlier this month, the Atlantic City anchor institution revealed a strategic plan for its next six years. Among the pillars supporting Vision 2030 is an emphasis on Workforce Excellence. That involves opportunities for current and future employees and the introduction of a medical school, working with Drexel University College of Medicine.

“We all know the challenges that health care has faced in regard to its workforce, clinical burnout, education, COVID — these are challenges that are faced across the country. Here, our focus is simple and straightforward,” AtlantiCare President and CEO Michael Charlton explained during Vision 2030’s unveiling in Atlantic City. “We want to be nationally recognized as the employer of choice. We want to be a place where the best and brightest are educated, come to the region to live, work and play.”

According to AtlantiCare, it is already the largest non-casino employer in the region with more than 6,500 team members. Through its 100-plus locations, the provider serves five South Jersey counties (Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May and southern Ocean). Its footprint includes two hospitals, ambulatory services, urgent care sites, primary care offices, specialty locations and more.

Altogether, AtlantiCare puts its total community impact at $928.8 million.

With the educational component of its six-year strategic plan, the provider is looking to bring a new dimension to that local engagement.

“In an ever-changing health care landscape, we understand the importance of upskilling and retooling our workforce so they’re prepared for jobs in the future,” Charlton said introducing AtlantiCare YOUniversity, which aims to nurture local, internal and external talent.

“We … want to make sure that AtlantiCare YOUniversity speaks to the needs of this community and our team members.”

In that pursuit, the program offers two distinguishing features: hands-on, experiential learning as well as accessibility. “We all in this room recognize the burden of educational debt,” Charlton said. “That is what AtlantiCare YOUniversity is all about. You will not just be a part of something biggeer, but we will make sure that we will pay for our students’ education and we will also compensate our students for the work they perform during their educational process.”

Already underway, eight new programs will launch this year, according to Charlton. They range from pharmacy technician training to radiology and coding.

“Our goal is to equip individuals with valuable skills that empower everyone financially, emotionally, spiritually and contribute to the improved wellbeing of our communities,” Charlton said. “We don’t just want to provide jobs, we want to build careers — and we’re preparing team members for their future, not our past.”

New school

Throughout New Jersey, there are five medical schools: Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (which are in the process of merging), Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Rowan University of Osteopathic Medicine and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

AtlantiCare currently trains over 100 hundred students through its medical residency programs (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pharmacy, Psychiatric and Surgery). In addition to workforce education, Vision 2030 lays out plans to build a medical school to train new professionals.

The partnership with Drexel’s College of Medicine is the first step toward.

“It shouldn’t just be about the outcomes and incomes, it should be about the tools,” Charlton said announcing the collaboration. “AtlantiCare and Drexel are working to refine what opportunity looks like in this community, achieving this vision.”

Acknowledging that goal will involve many partners, Charlton welcomed three men to the stage that he said have already been instrumental in bringing about this opportunity: State Sen. Vince Polistina, R-2nd District; Dr. Charles Cairns, Walter H. And Leonore Annenberg Dean, Drexel University College of Medicine, senior vice president, Medical Affairs, Drexel University; and Joe Bertolino, president, Stockton University.

Polistina, like Charlton, is from the area. He said it’s about the county and improving opportunities for its residents. Polistina highlighted AtlantiCare’s importance not just as a health care provider, “but [from] the regional perspective where we have opportunities to potentially educate people here, train people here, and then hopefully have people stay here.”

As he told it, the state senator provided the connection to Drexel, who he described as the right partner.

Currently the school educates 1 in 75 medical students in the United States. According to its website, Drexel University College of Medicine is committed to a diverse student body and encourages nontraditional applicants to apply.

Beyond working with AtlantiCare “What they said they said to me is, we want to do this in partnership with the community and in partnership with Stockton University,” Polistina said—which sealed the deal for him.

He described the collaboration as an opportunity to bring one of the country’s premier educational institutions to Atlantic City, “an opportunity we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Meds & eds

Introducing Cairns, Charlton described Drexel as a community builder.

“I think the things that drew us to Atlantic City are the things that have driven our transformation into communities across Pennsylvania as well as in California, North Carolina, Delaware—and that is to really take on the challenges of those who are either underserved by health care or underrepresented in the innovation that is health care with new discoveries, new technologies, new care models,” Cairns said. “And the opportunity to bring medical education, medical training, medical research to those communities.”

Atlantic City, he said, is one of those areas where there is “an extraordinary health care system” but also presents an opportunity to take “on the challenge of a community that has challenges and understanding the impact that medical education, training, research can have.”

Cairns and Charlton discussed this theory in practice, as exemplified by Drexel’s work with Tower Health in Reading, Pa. Cairns said in year four, Drexel now has 40 community partners in addition to Tower.

The Roundup

The latest in health care education from around the state:

• Jefferson Health enlists retired RNs for Nurse Emeritus program
• Saint Peter’s Healthcare offers employees tuition-free education
• William Paterson’s nursing program attracts record numbers
• Atlantic Health, William Paterson partner to build health care workforce
• Articulation agreement puts Kean students on fast track to Howard doctorate (updated)
• Rutgers-Camden, Samaritan partner to advance palliative care efforts

“It ranges from everything from street clinics to community to food banks to science and outreach programs for education, as well as partnering with a number of colleges and universities in the Reading area,” he said. “So, we can take medical education, training, research and put it into broader-based education.”

If AtlantiCare is the “meds,” Stockton University is the “eds,” when it comes to Atlantic City anchor institutions. Bertolino stepped into his leadership role at the school nine months ago.

“Probably first and foremost, it’s important to remember that AtlantiCare and Stockton occupy the same space—your main campus, our main campus. I think that makes us interconnected as partners in a way that other colleges and universities around the country may not have at their disposal.

“And so, as the new president of Stockton, I want to make sure that this community knows that one, our partnership with AtlantiCare and the partnership that AtlantiCare has with others, we’re committed to that … and we want to make sure that we build on that partnership and make it more robust.”

Second, he added that as a public institution – and a regional one at that – Stockton has “a moral responsibility to be in and of the community and care for the community and serve the community in which we live. And this partnership provides that opportunity.”

While acknowledging the need for more physicians generally, he said Stockton will help with expansion in the nursing and social work fields.

“This provides us with an opportunity to grow those programs and meet the needs of the community. … [A]s an access institution, there is an opportunity here to train more students, more health care professionals and serve more individuals in the community, providing top-quality patient care,” Bertolino said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Atlantic City’s employment rate is 50.9%, the median household income is $35,188 and 19.2% of residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Statewide, those respective figures are 62.7%, $96,346 and 43.5%.

“It seems so far away, but six years, it’s going to go by in an instant,” Charlton said in his closing remarks at the Vision 2030 event.

Q&A: AtlantiCare CEO Charlton details ‘Workforce Excellence’ plans

The leader offers further details around the Atlantic City anchor institution’s charge to bring a medical school to the town, as well as its work to education current team members.

Read more here.

“I grew up here. Matter of fact, I grew up two blocks down the street … I went to school at St. Michael’s. I went to church at St. Michael’s. … My family, we owned businesses … So I know how exceptionally difficult it can be to get things done in this region and especially in this community I’ve lived. I know the whispers, we hear the whispers, but I always go back to that question, why does AtlantiCare exist in this community?

“And we came up with the answer that we always knew. AtlantiCare is dedicated to purpose. It’s a team of dedicated people who serve others. … It’s intention, it’s consistency.”

The first pillar in Vision 2030 is “serving community,” a theme which traverses not just the educational component, but the overall plan.

To achieve its goals, the health care system is enlisting other partners, including Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute, Oracle Health and Global Neurosciences Institute.

Beyond the medical school, AtlantiCare intends to launch a homeownership program, integrate AI and other innovative technologies (that’s pillar three: Accelerating Transformation) introduce cancer care, and more. Pillar four is to Grow Market Share. Over the course of the plan, AtlantiCare aims to become a $2 billion organization.

If a rising tide raises all boats, the impact of AtlantiCare’s ascendency, rooted in education and the people it serves, could potentially flood Atlantic City with a renewed sense of community and outlook.