Healthcare leader Bill Arnold, Executive Vice President and Southern Region President for RWJBarnabas Health and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, was installed today as chair of the Board of the New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA).
The installation and appointment of new Board officers and members were part of NJHA’s 105th Annual Meeting held at the NJHA Conference and Event Center in Princeton. NJHA, founded in 1918, has 400 members spanning New Jersey’s healthcare community including hospitals, health systems and post-acute care providers. Together, they share a commitment to improving the health of New Jerseyans.
Arnold assumes the chair’s role at a time when hospitals are facing an array of challenges, including addressing historic workforce shortages, sustaining financial stability, and meeting rising needs for healthcare services in New Jersey. NJHA provides a platform for collaboration and the unified purpose needed to make headway as our healthcare landscape evolves, said Arnold.
“NJHA, led by Cathy Bennett and her team, tirelessly advocates for our industry so we can provide the best service and address issues that impact our communities as barriers to health,” said Arnold. “Building on the legacy of people who have served before me, many of whom I consider mentors, I am honored to serve in this role and work to make sure New Jersey sets the standard for addressing the critical shortage of healthcare professionals by protecting our current workforce, investing in a pipeline for new professionals and partnering to ensure these actions are sustained.”
“NJHA has a proven track record of success through collaboration around urgent issues,” Arnold continued. “As we mark Maternal Health Awareness this week, we can credit NJHA and leaders in this room for engaging with birthing hospitals statewide to support the implementation of evidence-based, data-driven quality improvement strategies that are improving maternal health outcomes. Our work matters for the people of New Jersey.”
Arnold succeeds 2023 Board Chair Edward J. Condit, president and CEO of St. Mary’s General Hospital in Passaic.
In her remarks to members, NJHA President and CEO Cathy Bennett cited a list of factors that are transforming healthcare, including the impact of AI, breakthrough drugs with high price tags, the deepening demand for mental health care and patients with increasingly complex health needs. But two critical issues loom above them all, said Bennett.
“The work we do has never been more important – nor more imperiled,” said Bennett. “Hospitals anchor their communities with quality care, economic opportunity and community health investments. Our attention is focused on two priorities that are essential to every aspect of healthcare: creating real solutions to the historic workforce shortage and protecting the financial stability of our systems of care.”
Under Mr. Arnold as board chair, the full slate of NJHA Board officers includes:
- Vice Chair Mark Stauder, COO of Hackensack Meridian Health
- Treasurer Deborah D. Visconi, president and CEO, Bergen New Bridge Medical Center
- Secretary Robert W. Brenner, MD, president of Valley Health System.
The following healthcare leaders also were appointed to a new 2024 term on the NJHA Board: Sam Bayoumy, interim CEO, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation – West Orange; James G. Demetriades, CEO, Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Stephen J. Dumke, president, Christian Health; Regina M. Foley, executive vice president, chief nursing officer and chief clinical transformation and integration officer at Hackensack Meridian Health; Warren Geller, president and CEO, Englewood Health; and Patricia A. O’Keefe, president of Morristown Medical Center and senior vice president and chief nursing executive at Atlantic Health System.
