COVID-19: FRONTLINE REPORTS
Lessons Learned: Hackensack
Meridian Health CEO
Robert C. Garrett, FACHE
“We have expanded our capacity to safely and effectively care for COVID-19 patients,” said Garrett.
By Diane C. Walsh
Contributing Editor
Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO of the
state’s largest healthcare system, Hackensack
Meridian Health, said the COVID-19
pandemic will have lasting and dramatics effects
on the healthcare industry in New Jersey. His
forecast was delivered during an online, CIANJ
Virtual Event in May, sponsored by Guardian
Data Destruction.
Hackensack Meridian operates 17 hospitals
across New Jersey, stretching from Bergen to
Ocean counties. Its staff numbers more than
35,000 employees and 7,200 physicians.
He also predicted the future of primary
care will rely more heavily on technology and
there will be greater alignment between health
systems and private doctors’ groups. The
growth of health systems is a consequence of
the shuttering of many smaller practices that
could not withstand the financial pressures of
the pandemic, Garrett said.
The changes in primary care were foretold
in the way telehealth skyrocketed among all
age groups. Data collected showed that 50
percent of all medical group visits were done
via telehealth. Garrett predicted the remote
workforce would stay in place even after the
crisis abates and business reopens.
Public-private partnerships are also likely to
increase, he said, pointing to the work being
done at Hackensack Meridian Health’s Center
for Discovery and Innovations. At the CDI,
under the direction of David Perlin, its chief
scientific officer, the center developed a new
diagnostic test for COVID-19. It was a “gamechanger,”
Garrett said, because results were
obtained much quicker, enabling New Jersey’s
healthcare providers to react more decisively.
The pandemic also brought more “agility
and speed” to healthcare and Garrett expects
this situation to continue. For example, he said
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
quickly approved a plasma infusion treatment
that proved effective.
Hackensack Meridian Health began tracking
the virus early in January by monitoring what
was occurring in the Wuhan province in China,
where it originated. The healthcare system
also established a command center early on to
provide daily communications to its board and
Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO, Hackensack
Meridian Health
medical staff. Hackensack Meridian Health
used the lessons learned as an Ebola site to ready
for the COVID-19 crisis, according to the CEO.
As New Jersey emerged from the peak of
the pandemic in April, Garrett said he was
eager to see elective surgery resume and people
return to healthcare facilities. He understands
their ambivalence, but commented “even in a
pandemic, cancer still exists.”
To allay the public’s trepidation, he said
Hackensack Meridian Health put in place
extensive cleaning and disinfecting procedures.
Universal masking will continue and there will
be temperature-checking at all facilities, as well
as extensive testing. The healthcare system is
offering a consulting service to advise businesses
and the private sector on the safest ways to reopen.
“I’m a big proponent of business reopening,”
but New Jersey is “doing it the right way” to slowly
lift the quarantine restrictions, Garrett said. “The
fear was if we went too fast, there is no doubt the
incidents would increase and sadly there would
be more hospitalizations and deaths.”
As New Jersey emerged from the peak of the pandemic in April, Garrett said he was eager to see
elective surgery resume and people return to healthcare facilities. He is pictured attending the
discharge of Hackensack University Medical Center’s 1,000th coronavirus patient.
Diane C. Walsh is Executive Vice President of
Communications and Programs for the Commerce
and Industry Association of New Jersey.
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