Results from the 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) combined with a strategic plan will help Bergen New Bridge identify new areas of focus and determine priorities for the communities the hospital serves as it addresses social determinants of health and the diversification of payer sources.

The CHNA details the community’s health care needs and the hospital’s three-year plan to address those needs.

This effort marks the first time the county-owned hospital has participated in the regional population-based assessment process since October 2017, when the medical center gained nonprofit status and Deborah Visconi took the reigns as president and chief executive officer.

According to Visconi, the CHNA provides the medical center a snapshot of its community’s health care needs while at the same time confirming the impact its daily work has on its neighbors. Visconi said the CHNA process confirmed that Bergen New Bridge is positioned and well equipped to address key community health needs, in particular, the social determinants of health.

“As the county asset, we see our responsibility to be far reaching into our community because we understand that over 40 percent of a person’s health is determined by what happens outside of a hospital and within their own communities. We are uniquely positioned to not just deliver care within the walls of a hospital, but beyond,” said Visconi.

“What we are trying to accomplish for Bergen County and the greater New Jersey community lines up with our reason for being—to provide care where care is needed. This assessment further validates our vision and mission of assuring that we provide services and care for our residents wherever they may be,” Visconi said.

Visconi said the Medical Center is committed to working with its extensive group of community partners so that when patients leave the facility they return to a safe environment and are connected with wrap-around services to obtain the continuing support they need.

Bergen New Bridge is unique in that it is owned by Bergen County but managed by a private, not-for-profit corporation that is the combination of three big partners: Care Plus NJ, Integrity House and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

“We are a publicly owned hospital but we stand on our own two feet as a not-for-profit corporation that manages the hospital. We provide the gamut of services from a 24-hour Emergency Department handling acute care services all the way up to and including long-term care. There is no other entity in the state that looks like us,” said Visconi.

“The other factor that makes the Medical Center unique,” said Visconi, “are vital partnerships that best positions the hospital to manage and mitigate the social determinants of health.”

For example, in the area of homelessness, the hospital has a partnership with the Bergen County Housing and Human Services Division designed to ensure discharged patients have some place safe to go and those individuals requiring medical care can seamlessly get care at Bergen New Bridge.

The Medical Center’s partnership with CarePlus NJ, according to Visconi, strengthens the hospital’s mental health services and the alignment with Integrity House provides strength and additional resources in substance use disorder treatment.
The hospital’s Ambulatory Care Center has been expanded to assure access to vitally needed services through the recruitment of Rutgers NJ Medical School physicians who join doctors from the community in providing primary and specialty outpatient care.

We are uniquely positioned to not just deliver care within the walls of a hospital, but beyond.
– Deborah Visconi, president and CEO, Bergen New Bridge Medical Center

Visconi said that the Medical Center has a clear path going forward and is confident that it will be financially solvent especially as an expansion of access to care for chronic conditions along a continuum of collaborative care while expanding the services the hospital offers the community.

“Because of our position as a safety net provider and our commitment to continuing to serve this population, I don’t see this assessment as having a tremendous impact on our payer mix. We are going to continue to see Medicaid patients, while attracting more of the [Asset Limited Income Constrained but Employed] population.”

Visconi added: “Although some ALICE households may have traditional insurance, most do not. Additionally, commercial managed care and Medicaid managed care are new payers that we didn’t see before. As part of our transformation we now accept all payers in New Jersey, providing access to 99.9 percent of New Jersey residents,” Visconi said.

“Those who didn’t have access to this facility before who needed the services we provide and couldn’t benefit from our Medical Center now can because we have ensured access for all,” Visconi said.