Toms River based long-term care provider Complete Care will acquire most of Hackensack Meridian Health’s LTC facilities, per a definitive agreement signed with the health system March 22.
Hackensack Meridian and Complete Care plan to maintain a collaborative relationship to ensure that quality care is integrated through the care continuum.
“As we were thinking about what the health care world is going to look like coming out of COVID, we felt like a partnership like this made a lot of sense. Long term care facilities have been part of Hackensack Meridian Health’s continuum of care … but just like we partnered in other aspects of that continuum, we thought a partnership in long term care made sense,” Hackensack Meridian CEO Bob Garrett said.
Garrett’s team chose Complete Care after a yearlong comprehensive search process, in part due to its New Jersey headquarters and its interest in a shared governance model: Complete Care will own the facilities, but Hackensack Meridian will provide input into the quality of care rendered at the facilities, and its medical directors will oversee clinical care.
Complete Care founder and CEO Sam Stein said that partnerships like the one announced March 22 result in better patient outcomes.
“For some, [that means] length of life; for some, getting discharged quicker,” he said. “When you’re admitted to the nursing home and the data is given over smoothly, your medications are going to be there on time … You’re going to see the medical records and know exactly what the patient needs [instead] of having a 24-hour turnaround … that ultimately will create a better outcome for the patient.”
Stein noted that quality of care and keeping everyone—patients, family members—happy is particularly important at long term care facilities because, for 70% of patients, it’s end-of-life care, and “typically their last stop.”
Garrett said he believes that partnerships will be the model for the future.
“Outside of acute care hospitals, partnerships make a lot of sense. Even in home care, a lot of partnerships happening in Hospital at Home. It just makes sense that those organizations that have expertise in those areas, we value their expertise and want to bring that to the table,” he said.
The facilities being acquired include Hackensack Meridian nursing and subacute facilities located in Brick, Hackensack, Holmdel, North Bergen, Ocean Grove, Plainfield, Shrewsbury and Wall, as well as two assisted living facilities located in Edison and Holmdel.
