Trish O’Keefe, President, Morristown Medical Center

Morristown Medical Center continues to be a beacon of light in New Jersey’s ever-evolving healthcare sector. In an interview with Invest:, President Trish O’Keefe highlighted recent developments, the impact of technology, and her priorities for the near term.

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What have been some key milestones for Morristown Medical Center in the recent past?

In the post-COVID era, our patients came back for complex care needs. Members of our community at that time were not routinely seeing their primary care physicians or going for their annual screenings. We needed to respond to their increased needs, whether that was through our primary care groups or our Emergency Department, as well as all the key clinical services. We also learned a great deal during that time, particularly from a virtual visit perspective, which has advanced, and so has our care delivery as we work together as a team to care for the patient, their family, and our community.

We further strengthened our true sense of community during that time, which has continued to this day. Factors such as technology, communication, and workforce development have contributed to advancing our clinical excellence strategy. Atlantic Health has more than 500 points of care, and I lead the team at Morristown Medical Center, which cares for well over 800 patients daily. Our clinical services are delivered through our many points of care, which include our physician practices, outpatient ambulatory sites, acute care, and complex, long-term medical care needs. 

What has been the impact of the new Hersh Fetal Center?

We are seeing the population having children later in life, and there is an increase in complex needs for expectant couples. We have centralized key clinical services that we offer, enhancing our medical expertise and providing families with a more holistic, healing environment. We have offered these clinical services throughout our hospital’s footprint, but we recognized the need to offer an expanded healing facility. Also, having those services wrapped around the couple and the newborn child was most important to us. 

What factors drive better outcomes for patients at Morristown Medical Center?

Morristown Medical Center has been nationally recognized for many key clinical services, such as cardiac, orthopedic, critical care/trauma programs, and pediatrics. All our clinicians are driven from a clinical excellence perspective. National and statewide recognitions and rankings are important to our internal and external community. We have analyzed the zip codes and have seen great growth beyond our primary and secondary care markets. 

We also focus on research and clinical innovation. For example, one of our key interventional cardiologists was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, focusing on changing the standard of care delivery for early TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement), a major cardiac procedure that is advanced throughout the country for both symptomatic as well as asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis patients.

Our cardiologist has proven that if you advance from a procedural perspective for asymptomatic severe advanced stenosis, patients do better and have improved outcomes and a better quality of life. At our Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute, our cardiac surgery program has the highest volume of cardiac procedures in the state of New Jersey. We surround this program with many cardiovascular specialties. These types of investments from a clinical excellence standpoint have differentiated us at the state and national levels, and our community deserves to have the absolute best in their own backyard. 

How does the medical center balance patient care and technology?
Our focus is on the patient connection, whether the need is prevention, early detection, or information. We want to be connected to the patients from birth, so technology integration is important to us. We look at all opportunities for improvements, such as using advanced monitoring equipment or wearables, for example. In the AI space, we have seen developments in radiology, for example, as well as great advancements in medical imaging. 

Software support is another area of advancement. A patient may come in for a particular area of concern, but based on that focus, we may find other potential incidental findings. We evaluate how to collectively escalate that information and communicate findings to the physicians. This can prompt additional evaluation and potential diagnosis and treatment for the patient. 

What are your priorities for Morristown Medical Center in the near term?

Our major strategy is to prepare for the future vision for a major expansion at Morristown Medical Center. We are the hub for complex critical care and need a brand new patient care pavilion that will offer acute care and complex care, in a private, healing environment for patients and their families.

We will expand our imaging capabilities as well as our surgical services footprint. We understand the shift to ambulatory care, but we also understand that there is a shift to complex ambulatory care. We will add a medical specialty building, which will incorporate different specialties in a more ambulatory type setting that will feature ease of access for patients and their families. We will also expand our children’s hospital, as we have become a regional medical center for pediatrics in the state. We will add two additional floors to support that growth in our community. 

We have also recognized the growth happening in our county and the surrounding counties in NJ. The town of Morristown has grown considerably. These new residents all need excellent healthcare. They will be depending on us to support them. We have recently completed the final phase of expanding and modernizing our emergency department, where last year we cared for more than 106,000 people. All our key medical services need to expand as we prepare for the future. We also need to be part of the research and innovation that is happening. We need to continue to lead the way in providing exceptional healthcare because our community deserves it.