Leslie Hirsch, President & CEO, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System
Leslie Hirsch, president and CEO of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, spoke with Invest: about the system’s vital role in the New Brunswick community. “Our Catholic mission is most important in supporting patients, families, and our staff. It is essential that we integrate our clinical services with the social fabric of the community,” he said.
How does Saint Peter’s Healthcare System contribute to the overall healthcare landscape of New Brunswick and Central New Jersey?
We’ve been at this location since 1929 and have a long history as a Catholic hospital. Healthcare has become a big business, but we never lose sight of being a mission-driven organization, with a focus on the needs of the communities we serve. We have patients who come to us from throughout the region for various services, especially women’s and children’s services. We are one of the biggest maternity centers in the state, and we have one of the largest neonatal intensive care units. We are also a children’s hospital licensed by the state of New Jersey. We are a safety net hospital for New Brunswick, as it has the seventh highest percentage of population living under the federal poverty level in the state. We play a substantial role in providing care for those who have no health insurance or are supported by public assistance.
Our family health center in New Brunswick is our largest facility not located on the hospital campus, at 70,000 square feet. Last year, we completed a $12 million renovation of that facility. We have adult, pediatric, and women’s services, as well as a state-designated child protection center and an outpatient partial hospitalization program for children. It’s a big facility and we anticipate over 80,000 visits this year. We also created a market there to improve access to healthy foods for the community. This is another way we can help to improve people’s lives by improving their health and personal development, by improving access to educational and job opportunities. We are well-known as a community partner and have relationships with a wide variety of various community-based organizations.
What are the challenges affecting the healthcare sector, and how is Saint Peter’s addressing them?
One of the greatest challenges is moving on from COVID, when hospital staff were considered heroes. Now, there is a lot of pressure on hospitals related to costs, and there is significant conflict between providers and insurers. We don’t have control over a lot of our costs on the supply side. We do all that we can to control costs, but it’s a complicated system. We have issues with being paid by insurers for the services we’ve provided. There needs to be greater health plan accountability. We have significant issues with all insurers delaying and denying payments for care that was provided after being pre-authorized. The healthcare system has become more complicated than I’ve ever seen. Healthcare consumers also have significant issues with insurers related to pre-authorization and access to care, even when patients are insured.
These are problems of a broken system that doesn’t have consistent accountability. All sides need to work together to solve these problems.
Another issue is the uncertainty with the federal budget. We are cautiously optimistic that it will land in the right place, but concerns remain with looming Medicaid funding cuts that threaten the safety net in our country. We provide care to anyone, even if they are not insured. We want to have a strong economy and a strong healthcare system, which takes a lot of partnership.
With the integration into Atlantic Health System, what changes can patients and staff expect in the near term?
Based on the regulatory process in New Jersey, it is possible that we will close the transaction sometime over the next several months. In the meantime, there is a lot of preparation. There is a substantial capital investment to update and expand our hospital campus that will help the economy locally by providing jobs for construction and other building trades. There will be substantial development in technology that includes a $75 million investment in a new IT infrastructure anchored by the Epic Electronic Health record. It will allow patients to have access to their health records to help navigate their care. There will be brick-and-mortar investments in New Brunswick and surrounding communities. Our primary service area will see substantial investment off campus and support our focus on social determinants of health to build healthier communities. We want to help communities in education, work, and other aspects of advancement to help improve people’s lives overall.
What are your top priorities for Saint Peter’s in the near term?
Our top priority is always to be true to our mission with a focus on supporting patients, families, and our staff, as well as serving those who are most vulnerable in the community. We are a teaching hospital, educating future physicians, physician assistants, and nurses. We will continue to evolve and advance our academic affiliation with Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, where new opportunities present. We will continue to focus on people and helping our staff evolve and advance. People come here to work, and we want to give them the opportunity to advance. If our culture is strong, everything else falls into place. We also need to be financially strong and stable to support our mission and the continued development of clinical services and programs. Catholic healthcare in New Jersey must be preserved. Our mission is non-negotiable.
