PRINCETON – The New Jersey Hospital Association presented its 2012 Legislator of the Year award to Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Delanco) yesterday during its annual Fall Membership Luncheon in recognition of his work on behalf of the hospital industry.

Conaway, a physician, chairs the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee. He has served in the state Assembly since 1998.

“Assemblyman Conaway, quite simply, ‘gets it,’” said NJHA President and CEO Elizabeth A. Ryan, Esq. “As a physician, he understands the constant balancing act providers face in providing quality care in a time of intense budget pressures and rapid industry change.”

Ryan lauded Conaway for his support of the provider community including his efforts to improve end-of-life care, specifically through his support of guardianship legislation to assist socially isolated patients; for sponsoring legislation to create a health insurance exchange in New Jersey; and for his leadership in insurance reform measures including holding insurance companies more accountable to network adequacy standards.

The New Jersey Hospital Association, based in Princeton, is the statewide advocate for its 107 member hospitals, its 300-plus post-acute members and the patients they serve.