With New Jersey reportedly set to make another push at legalizing sports betting, a new Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll released Wednesday shows there is support for doing so nationally.Some 48 percent of Americans surveyed said they were in favor of changing federal laws to make sports betting legal, compared with just 39 percent who said they were opposed to the idea.
The last time the poll was conducted in 2012, 51 percent said they were in favor.
“With the World Series almost behind us, and the NFL and NBA seasons underway, Americans will be doing a lot of betting,” poll director and FDU professor Krista Jenkins said. “Many would enjoy the opportunity to wager in places other than office pools and among friends.”
Supporters of legalized sports betting pointed out to the poll that there is already lots of wagering going on and that it could bring in new revenues.
“Betting on sports does not have an access issue for anyone in the United States,” said FDU senior lecturer Donald Hoover. “Most of the sports betting in the U.S. is fairly easy to do but happens in the shadows and in violation of federal law.”
But despite the support for legalized sports betting, some 68 percent of Americans told the poll that they feel the U.S. already has an adequate number of casinos.
“With an overwhelming number who believe there are enough casinos, we may have reached a saturation point for casino expansion in the United States,” Jenkins said.
Tag: South Jersey
NJBIZ stories taking place in and involving South Jersey businesses, companies and business news.
N.J. picks provider for direct primary care service
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania-based R-Health has been contracted by the state of New Jersey to provide a no-fee direct primary care service.It’s the largest contract for direct primary care service, with potentially more than half a million members of the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program and School Employees’ Health Benefits Program and their families, according to R-Health CEO Mason Reiner.
R-Health partners with local physicians to offer a different kind of value-based care model. Rather than focusing on traditional fee-for-service reimbursements, the doctors are incentivized to engage with patients when they are not in the office, Reiner said.
This helps reduce the overall cost of care for both the members, who pay no copay, and for the doctors, who are reimbursed for keeping patients well and out of expensive specialty visits.
This also helps doctors not worry about the number of patients they see per day and, instead, how well those patients are being cared for.
The pilot program is rolling out in three locations: Haddonfield, Moorestown and across the Delaware River in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. The company has plans to add new practices across the state, with a new location opening in the Trenton area in early 2017, according to a statement.
For New Jersey’s plan, the two state plan administrators — Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and Aetna — were directed to design the network plan and rates based on the three locations participating.
“In the state of New Jersey, we are facing out of control health care cost increases and we knew we had to take a hard look at the various ways we could fix this,” Patrick Nowlan, executive director of Rutgers AAUP-AFT and chair of the SHBP Plan Design Committee, said in a statement. “After much research, we realized a core component of cost savings — and better patient experience — was more proactive and relationship-based primary care.”
The contract gives R-Health the largest program in the country, according to Mike LaPenna, owner of Michigan-based The La Penna Group.
Typically, school boards will engage in a joint venture with local municipal or county government bodies to create a health plan with direct primary care.
LaPenna sad this model is direct competition for hospitals, especially those who are hiring physicians.
Continuum Health Alliance bolsters leadership team
Continuum Health Alliance, a Marlton-based physician services company, has bolstered its leadership team with three new executives, it announced Tuesday.
The company said the changes were made in order to drive its success and enhance its vision for growth.
“As our company embarks on a new chapter of growth, we’re thrilled to add these talented individuals to our leadership team,” Don McDaniel, Continuum’s CEO, said in a prepared statement. “Their track records of success within the health care industry, and the perspectives they bring, will add significant value to our company.”
The three additions are:
- Peter Bailey, president and chief operating officer;
- Mark Glickman, chief commercial officer;
- Tim Weldon, general manager and senior vice president of value-based care.
In his new role, Bailey will provide leadership and direction to Continuum’s planning and operations. He was most recently CEO of LabVantage Solutions, a global enterprise software and services firm. He has held executive roles with GE, and worked with McKinsey & Company and Hitachi.
Glickman will handle market development, as well as lead sales and marketing efforts. Prior to joining Continuum, he was vice president of enterprise sales as ZirMed, a cloud-based financial and clinical performance management platform. He has also worked for GE, and held leadership roles with Picis, McKesson and elsewhere.
Weldon, meanwhile, is responsible for the growth, development and operational support of the company’s value-based care and practice transformation initiatives. He was vice president and general manager of sales for Wellcentive, a population health management software company, and has also worked for The Chartis Group and Universal Health Services, among others.
Array
Marlin Business Services names treasurer
Mount Laurel-based commercial equipment financing company Marlin Business Services Corp. has named a new treasurer, it announced Tuesday.Richard Irwin will manage the company’s liquidity, set its annual financial plan, analyze the performance of financial goals, develop pricing tools and provide insight into efficient capital generation and utilization, the company said in a news release.
“Rich’s extensive treasury, financial and equipment finance experience is an ideal fit for the critical role of treasurer for Marlin,” W. Taylor Kamp, chief financial officer, said in a prepared statement. “We’re proud to have him join the Marlin team and look forward to his contributions to help manage and achieve our strategic and financial goals.”
Irwin has more than 18 years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently as vice president of mergers and acquisitions at CIT Group Inc.
More to give New Jersey
Last year, New Jersey collected approximately $400 million in estate taxes. Starting in 2018, New Jersey will stop collecting estate taxes. So, what will come of that $400 million in unexpected wealth going forward? What if we challenged ourselves as New Jerseyans to devote, say, 50 percent of this savings to New Jersey communities to fight…The estate tax restructuring has its proponents and critics, but everyone recognizes that, with more money available to give away, charitable New Jersey families have a unique opportunity to expand and deepen their philanthropy.
At the Community Foundation of New Jersey, we are already seeing increased interest in charitable bequests and large, long-term legacy gifts. We are optimistic that a new wave of New Jersey philanthropy will emerge as more families choose to not only remain in our state, but also give back through their estates to the communities they care about.
Increasing the estate tax exclusion from $675,000 to $2 million in January 2017 and then eliminating the estate tax entirely in January 2018 will dramatically change the context in which families make important estate and charitable planning decisions.
For more than a decade, New Jerseyans have planned their estates with the knowledge that the estate tax would reduce the amount they could leave to their families. Faced with that prospect, real or imagined, many people felt as if they were choosing between their family and their community.
It may help explain why from 2006 to 2012, the growth in charitable giving in New Jersey was the third lowest in the country.
The elimination of the New Jersey estate tax creates the potential for an explosion in legacy giving. People are understandably most willing to make large and, in some cases, transformative charitable gifts at death, after day-to-day financial concerns cease to exist. At that moment, when all of a person’s accumulated wealth is in transition, it is often easier to imagine devoting a portion of that wealth to leaving a charitable legacy.
Among the charitable bequests to the Community Foundation of New Jersey are funds designed to help the vision-impaired, support survivors of domestic violence, and expand small theater, to name just a few. These end-of-life donations enable the Community Foundation to act upon a donor’s wishes in perpetuity, extending the family’s legacy for generations and matching their goals to current community needs.
We hope that more New Jersey families will use the elimination of the estate tax to think big or bigger about their community, the causes that engage them, and their individual or family’s charitable legacy.
New Jersey philanthropists and their advisors often work collaboratively with the Community Foundation or other organizations to develop charitable plans that provide income tax or federal estate tax savings while achieving a meaningful and satisfying charitable impact.
Now, with the elimination of the New Jersey estate tax, there is a new and wonderful opportunity for our state’s residents to imagine the kind of communities and world that they would like to help create – and to more powerfully act on it.
Frederick K. Schoenbrodt II is chair of the Estate Planning and Administration practice at Bressler, Amery & Ross P.C. and a member of the Community Foundation of New Jersey’s board of trustees. Hans Dekker is president of the Community Foundation of New Jersey.
The transformer Slowly but surely, Curtis Bashaw has helped change Cape May
Developer Curtis Bashaw has spent more than 20 years helping to transform Cape May.
Between restoring inns, creating a business incubator and managing a farm, Bashaw has helped the former whaling town recognized as the country’s oldest seashore resort become a thriving mix of a vintage village and the millennial spirit.
Now, he feels Cape May is ready for the spotlight. Ready to become the Hamptons of New Jersey.
“In this East Coast megalopolis, my feeling is, Cape May’s star is rising,” he said. “I feel like Cape May is on the cusp of sort of rivaling a Nantucket or a Martha’s Vineyard or a Charleston or some of those more nationally known (locations).”
For Bashaw, it’s more than just a feeling. It’s an investment.
He is co-founder and co-managing partner of Cape Resorts Group and Cape Advisories, the companies that develop and operate his various properties based in Cape May, and runs an investment fund — called, simply, The Fund — which has a current market cap of $14 million.
The Fund, which is a combination of his own and other local businesses’ investments, has been used to partner with entrepreneurs in the West End Garage, his incubator space.
Through The Fund, commercial space is purchased and, rather than a traditional landlord-tenant relationship, entrepreneurs are offered low rents in exchange for a small percentage of profits. The town gets new business. Bashaw feels it’s a win for everyone.
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Bashaw’s put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is attitude about Shore communities has been well-documented over time.
From his first renovation of The Virginia inn in 1995, to his appointment to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority in Atlantic City under Gov. Jim McGreevey in 2005 to his renovation of The Chelsea hotel in A.C. in 2008 and finally the West End Garage in 2011, there appears to be a master plan.
In reality, it’s been just as much an unintended consequence of his success.
WEG was supposed to be a headquarters office space for his companies, but, after the economic slump eight years ago, he and his partner decided the expansion wasn’t needed.
And focusing on the retail experience in Cape May stemmed from an interest in the long-term success of his five local hotels: Congress Hall, The Virginia, Beach Shack, The Star and The Sandpiper Beach Club.
But over the past decade, as many of the small shop owners in the resort failed to transfer ownership to the next, often fourth, generation, Bashaw said he became nervous about what would take the place of the shuttered shops.
“There are two or three people that own multiple properties here that are absentee landlords,” he said. “So they’ll be less sensitive to the historic ambiance to the inside of the store. More often than not, they’ll make it a T-shirt or trinket shop. So, we were noticing a disparity in the quality of the hotel and (bed and breakfast) products, and the retail experience.”
Bashaw doesn’t view himself as a savior. In fact, he credits others before him for helping make Cape May what it is today.
Learning from the town’s history, Bashaw credits the previous generation’s preservation — rather than razing and rebuilding — as a reason for success, along with the changes of current businesses.
That lesson, he said, cannot be lost.
“You can’t ever rest on your laurels; any place that does always gets caught off guard,” Bashaw said, recapping the history of the resort from the late 1800s to the rise of the Wildwoods to Atlantic City’s gaming era.
“In the late 1800s, Cape May was the queen of seaside resorts; people were making money hand over fist. They didn’t pay attention to what was happening in the world.”
Since then, Bashaw said Atlantic City had its surge in popularity, as did the Wildwoods, with their motel boom.
“Who would’ve thought, 80 years ago, that Atlantic City would be a wasteland?” Bashaw asked.
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Bashaw doesn’t feel like Cape May has been affected by the downturn in gaming.
If anything, tough times have been a bit of a help, as there has been more of a trend toward staycations since 9/11 and the financial crisis.
“We’re the alternate charming town to the big city,” he said.
Tracking ZIP codes from customers backs that up. Bashaw said more than 50 percent of his guests come from New York City, southeastern Connecticut, Long Island and North Jersey. He said he also has a considerable volume of guests from the greater Philadelphia and South Jersey area, followed by a “smattering” of guests from the greater Washington, D.C., area.
Societal shifts have helped, too.
Bashaw has noticed that, as families have become less nuclear, Cape May has become more of a traditional holiday spot.
He said that, while the resort used to be a summer family spot and non-summer romantic weekend getaway, it has now seen a resurgence of families for the holidays. Which is why Bashaw feels an urban vibe for Cape May area, while still preserving its historic, vintage feel, is the key to success.
It’s not a hard sell to get entrepreneurs, Bashaw said.
“I think a lot of these big cities are priced out,” he said, pointing to the Cape May Brewing Co., run by a former New Yorker, which is now exporting its wares.
But he has also actively sought to introduce students at the local high school to the idea of owning a small business. His Beach Plum Farm is used to host networking events for the community and students.
And this is just one of many new uses Bashaw has found for the farm.
He conceived a farm-to-table idea before it was a buzzword, and just this month extended the idea to a prix-fixe dinner and tour for guests of his inns.
The idea was based off of reclaiming the Garden State’s South Jersey history, Bashaw said, as he recalled how Campbell Soup Company chose New Jersey for its tomatoes, back when South Jersey was all farming. Over time, that got supplanted and smaller family farms went out of vogue, but soon corporate farms in Iowa became more expensive than land in South Jersey.
“The trend of people being more aware of where their food comes from and wanting to be close (to home for vacation is great for us),” he said. “We’re one gas tank away from the East Coast megalopolis, which has 25 percent of the U.S. population.
“I think this farmland has got some promise,” he said of the Beach Plum Farm, which is roughly two miles away from the town center.
It began as a source of produce for restaurants near his inns in the resort: The Ebbitt Room in downtown Cape May, Blue Pig Tavern at the Congress Hall inn and Rusty Nail at the Beach Shack.
He hopes to inspire a new generation to carry the torch moving forward.
“Change is going to happen, it’s all about,” he said. “You can stand on the sidelines and watch change happen, or you can make change.”
E-mail to: [email protected]
On Twitter: @anjkhem
Tropicana’s big-money bet Casino feels it’s positioned for future of the industry after 90M in renovations
This summer, the Tropicana in Atlantic City completed a $40 million renovation project that included updated hotel rooms, another property entrance, a high-limit slots area and a number of added new features, from a luxury hair salon to a premier nightclub.
The upgrades came a year or so after the resort completed a $50 million renovation that featured a modernization of the casino floor, more hotel room updates, a new fitness center and the creation of a multimedia light and sound show on its boardwalk façade.
Who says Atlantic City is crumbling?
At a time when five casinos have closed in less than three years, the Tropicana’s yearly investments back into its own property appear to be an anomaly.
Or a business success story — at least, that’s how Tropicana CEO and President Tony Rodio sees it.
“We are financially successful, strong and continuing to grow,” he said.
Indeed, the Tropicana, like other remaining properties in the city, has seen its market share grow with less saturation. But Rodio also attests the success of the resort to its commitment to business and the age-old adage about spending money to make money.
“We think it’s critical to make sure that we focus on all three elements,” Rodio said. “The employees, the customers and the building.”
Don’t be confused. Rodio is cognizant of the world around him.
Just south of the building is the former Atlantic Club, closed since January 2014. A few blocks north is the former Trump Plaza, visibly in a state of disrepair since it closed in September 2014.
As light and bright as the Tropicana’s new boardwalk shows may be, Rodio knows the city’s challenges are an obstacle.
“It really is difficult, firstly because you have to overcome a negative perception that the general public has about Atlantic City,” he said. “They hear about the city’s financial issues and the potential for the city to go into bankruptcy, or the potential for the state to take over the city. They see all these closures, and then there’s parts of the city that are rundown and blighted.
“But we’re an oasis in the middle of all of that.”
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Out on the casino floor, Tropicana General Manager Steve Callender says the changes have boosted morale and reinvigorated employees.
“We have 30-year employees that have been become engaged by what we’ve been doing, “ he said. “They’ve got a new energy about them when we started to redo this casino floor, and they really appreciate it. They get to work more hours; their tips go up. The customers are loving it; they’re engaged with it, as well.”
The success hasn’t exactly come from a secret sauce, either.
Back in 2013, Resorts cut the ribbon on its $35 million Margaritaville-themed expansion and renovation project. In August, figures from the state Division of Gaming Enforcement showed that Resorts saw its gross profits rise by 26 percent over the first half of this year, compared with last year.
That same report showed a 25 percent spike in gross profits for Tropicana over that time period.
“The people that are investing money in their property are seeing a return for it,” Callender added. “Now that we have the right amount of casinos, you can feel comfortable about investing in your property … especially if you do it right.”
Rodio said it’s not just how Tropicana is spending its reinvestment dollars but, rather, what it’s investing in.
Diversification, he said, is key. With a number of changing market elements, the city’s casinos need to continue to offer a wide range of activities that might not center around or have anything to do with traditional gaming.
While that’s certainly a buzzword these days in Atlantic City, Tropicana has long kept that in mind with its boasting of its IMAX theater and array of nightlife and dining options in the “Quarter” section of its resort. But the recent renovations have doubled down on those amenities, with the additions of Ivan Kane’s Kiss Kiss A Go-Go nightclub and a number of eateries, including new restaurants expected early next year from popular Philadelphia-area Iron Chef Jose Garces.
It is part of a larger strategy to attract millennials, who Rodio said are often “focused more on non-gaming attractions that get them to the property.”
“I think it’s even more important as we look to the future,” Rodio said. “You read so much about the millennials and they’re going to be the economic engine that’s driving the economy in the next 10 to 15 years as they gradually become more and more of an economic force.”
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Regardless of the confidence Tropicana is currently exuding, there is still a lot of uncertainty across the city.
First, there’s the Trump Taj Mahal, managed by Tropicana Entertainment and owned by Icahn Enterprises, which closed its doors earlier this month amid poor performance and a labor dispute with the local casino workers’ union.
Rodio has largely been in the news lately responding to what will happen at the Taj, but that property’s future is still very much up in the air, with rumors of all sorts continuing to percolate.
That’s also being fueled by an ongoing effort in the state Legislature to effectively block the Taj from holding onto its gaming license. That situation is uncertain.
There’s also the upcoming northern New Jersey casino expansion referendum that voters will consider Nov. 8. While recent polls show that the ballot question might lack the support it needs to pass, nothing is, of course, for certain.
Atlantic City’s gaming market is still eagerly awaiting its fate.
Rodio says that, ultimately, if there aren’t new casinos coming soon to northern New Jersey, he expects to see “some additional properties coming online or reopening” in the next couple of years in Atlantic City as market confidence builds.
Even if it fails, Rodio said he expects legislators to try again. That’s why he’s hoping for a grand defeat.
“I’m hoping that it fails by a pretty wide margin to send a message to Trenton,” he said.
E-mail to: [email protected]
Culture Summit Learn why corporate culture is the key to success
I remember the first great boss I ever had. Everyone does.It wasn’t because he was the most efficient restaurant manager I ever worked for. And he didn’t have new ideas on how to up-sell appetizers or turn tables quickly on a busy night.
In fact, I can’t think of one restaurant-specific idea he had. But more than two decades later, I still remember Rick O’Neill. And I still remember working as a waiter at Papa Razzi at the Mall at Short Hills was the most engaged I ever was in the industry.
At the time, I didn’t know why. Now it’s perfectly clear: O’Neill was all about building the perfect company culture.
I thought of O’Neill when NJBIZ agreed to be the media sponsor for the Annual Corporate Culture Summit run by People Productive on Dec. 1 at FDU’s Florham Park campus.
To register, click here.
People Productive, founded and created by Frank Wander in Hillsborough in 2014, has been showing companies large and small how caring for your people is the best way to grow your company.
“We worry about our processes, our financials, our products, our marketing — but we don’t have a way to measure, manage and motivate our people that is reliable and useful,” he said in a story in NJBIZ earlier this year.
“We can do so much better and get much bigger returns on talent if we would just actually take the time to understand what drives the productivity of the modern workforce.”
These ideas will be on display at the conference, which will include panels on ‘How Millennials Are Changing Corporate Culture’ and ‘How to Create a Deep Sense of Belonging for Millennials’, as well as CEO’s from the best places to work sharing their winning culture formulas.
Click here to register.
Wander will be one of the keynote speakers. He’s eager to explain how he has created a technology-driven human capital management company that focuses entirely on workforce productivity and performance acceleration.
“We build software and help companies improve their returns on people to create better bottom lines,” he said. “If people are 60 percent of the expense of the company, they should be the most important thing.”
Any good boss can tell you that.
I learned it from O’Neill.
I once asked him the secret to managing. He said it was simple if you just used the A-B-C method.
O’Neill felt any company had all three levels of workers, especially the A’s (who would be hard-working dedicated employees regardless of how bad it got) and the C’s (who would be less than enthusiastic team players no matter how good things were).
Rick said you have to take care of the B employees, who can go either way. Create an environment they enjoy and they’ll rise to A’s and the C’s will (begrudgingly) improve their effort. Fail the B’s and they’ll fall to C’s (misery loves company) and you’ll risk losing your A’s to better environments. Who can afford that?
Corporate culture has never been more important than it is today. That will be perfectly clear at the Annual Corporate Culture Summit.
To register, click here.
N.J. company acquires zero-emission medical taxi business
The nation’s first employee-only zero-emission taxi company is now owned by a New Jersey firm, it announced Wednesday.Southampton-based energy services holding company Liberated Energy Inc. has finalized its previously announced purchse of EcoCab Portland LLC, which serves the Portland, Oregon, area using luxury Teslas for nonemergency medical transportation, Liberated said in a news release.
EcoCab, which uses a mobile app for calls in a fashion similar to Uber and Lyft, is now a fully owned subsidiary of Liberated.
“The traditional health care transportation model is severely outdated,” Ron Knori, EcoCab’s CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We are currently in discussions to launch the EcoCab brand across the United States, utilizing our luxury electric zero-emission vehicles with drivers delivering five-star hospitality experiences while also reinventing the medical transportation model to provide transportation to millions of seniors and retiring baby boomers who require caring, respectful transportation.
“Miami, Toledo and Phoenix are on our immediate horizon.”
Liberated cited statistics showing about 3.6 million Americans miss medical appointments annually because of transportation issues, while Medicaid pays up to $3 billion per year for nonemergency medical transportation.
“EcoCab is incredibly relevant in today’s market, and goes along with our focus of reducing the carbon footprint on our planet,” Brian Conway, Liberated’s CEO, said in a statement. “It’s a simple model: More cars equal more revenue, more cities.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Area airports among most delayed in the country, survey finds
With the relative certainty of East Coast-style pizza outranking Chicago deep dish in a national survey, the three airports that service the New York/New Jersey metro area have found themselves at the very bottom of a ranking of on-time flights throughout the country.La Guardia found itself at the very bottom of the Global Gateway Alliance’s list, which looked at on-time performance at the nation’s airports for the first eight months of 2016.
According to the statistics, less than three-quarters of La Guardia’s flights, 73 percent, have operated on time this year.
The findings were based on the most recent data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The other airports in the area did not fare well, either, with JFK appearing fourth-to-last and Newark Liberty International ranking just above La Guardia in the overall ranking of the 29 busiest passenger airports in the nation.
On the bright side for South Jersey residents, Philadelphia’s airport ranked in the middle of the pack at No. 13.
The Top 10 airports for the same period of 2016 were:
- Salt Lake City
- Portland, Oregon
- Seattle
- Minneapolis/St. Paul
- Detroit
- Phoenix
- Atlanta
- San Diego
- Washington, D.C.
- Charlotte, North Carolina
We’ll always have the pizza.
Campbell invests 32M in personalized-meal delivery firm
Campbell Soup Company is investing $32 million in a California business that is delivering personalized meals to customers, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday.In a news release issued earlier in the day, San Francisco-based Habit said the Camden-based food giant is its sole investor. Habit founder and CEO Neil Grimmer was also a co-founder of baby food brand Plum Organics, which was acquired by Campbell in 2013.
Habit’s goal is to develop nutrition recommendations based on customers’ biology and goals, then deliver personalized meals direct to their door, while providing support through coaching.
“The entire food industry is being transformed by the fusion of food, well-being and technology,” Campbell CEO and President Denise Morrison said in a prepared statement. “Habit is well-positioned in this ‘wired for well-being’ space and poised to lead the personalized nutrition category. Campbell’s investment is part of our broader efforts to define the future of food, which requires fresh thinking, new models of innovation, smart external development and venture investing to create an ecosystem of innovative partners.”
Habit’s service will be available in early 2017, the company said.
“I founded Habit after my own health and wellness wakeup call,” Grimmer said in a statement. “Two years ago, my doctor looked me in the eyes and told me, a former Ironman triathlete, that I was on the road to some serious health issues. … After undergoing a complex and costly path of DNA and blood tests to understand my body’s fundamental nutrition needs, I realized there had to be a simpler, more accessible way for others to learn what foods and nutrients their bodies crave to be the healthiest they can be.”
At groundbreaking, officials say cancer center will impact care, costs
The groundbreaking for Summit Medical Group’s new MD Anderson Cancer Center site in Florham Park on Tuesday attracted a who’s who in the state, including Gov. Chris Christie, Department of Health Commissioner Cathleen Bennett, state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean and Cooper Health System Chairman George Norcross.
The new facility, right next to the existing Summit location in Florham Park, will be the home of MD Anderson-certified oncologists and cancer care professionals, and opens the door for Summit to be privy to the more than 1,000 clinical trials and cancer research conducted by MD Anderson.
Summit Medical Group CEO Dr. Jeffrey LeBenger said the goal of the new center is to help lower the cost of cancer care as insurance increasingly shifts cost-sharing to the patient.
“What we’re going to be creating is an ambulatory cancer center,” LeBenger said, adding it was a smart move because 95 percent of cancer care is being driven to the outpatient setting.
LeBenger explained reimbursement for cancer care is higher in a hospital setting. In a world where more patients are increasingly on the line for out-of-pocket costs — because of high-deductible plans — the outpatient setting will save them money.
“So, the patient can afford high-quality health care,” LeBenger said, citing the MD Anderson brand’s reputation for quality.
Margaret Row, vice president of clinical operations at the national MD Anderson center in Houston, said focusing on value-based reimbursements is a key for the center and its partnership with Harvard University.
“In cancer care, it’s a little bit different than in orthopedics and cardiac care,” Row said, referring to the two value programs from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“The challenges outside of a comprehensive cancer care center — where all the care happens in once place — are being able to follow the patient from provider to provider. On the ecocnomic side … insurance companies are pushing for networks, and our model of care is really network,” she said.
Norcross explained that cancer is a capital-intensive business, and the future growth of MD Anderson is targeting Boston and Washington, D.C.
The quick pace of change overall in health care today has also created a demand for more adaptive building — and the cost of building an outpatient center outweighs the overall cost of cancer care in a hospital, officials at the event said.
Clark Machemer, with the Rockefeller Group real estate firm, said the goal of the project is to build something that’s indicative of what’s coming in the future.
“We’re working with Summit and plans that we laid out six months ago, they’re starting to say, ‘Well, you know, health care is starting to change, and how can you adapt those into the building as you’re moving along,’ ” Machemer said.
That includes anticipating changes in technology and how a building can adapt to those changes when they are implemented, he said.
LeBenger and Norcross both complimented each other’s health care initiatives and success.
“Summit Medical Group represents the best and brightest in northern New Jersey,” Norcross said. “Jeff LeBenger and I are good friends, and I approached him about two to three years ago about partnering, and now we stand here today.”
LeBenger called Camden the “Mecca of health care delivery.”
“George Norcross developed a partnership with Cooper University Health Care and MD Anderson Cancer Center and, now, this relationship is going to extend up north to right at this site,” he said.
Meanwhile, Christie touted the success of the Rutgers University health programs, and the merger with the former UMDNJ.
“We have seen the growth in health care around the state in the aftermath of that decision,” Christie said, highlighting the bipartisan support of the initiative.
“Rutgers moved from the 55th-highest-ranking NIH-funded institution in the country to 22nd in just three short years. What that’s done is, it not only brings more resources in, but it makes Rutgers and those institutions more effective. But it has also created competition,” he said. “That’s what you see happen at Cooper, with the development of all the things happening in Camden. That’s what you see with the combination of Robert Wood Johnson and Saint Barnabas Health. That’s what you see across Atlantic Healthcare and all across all the health care providers in the state to face the competition that the state has helped to drive.”
Machemer said the initial buildout will be done by next fall and Summit plans to open the center in spring 2018.