Massive Hospital Merger Will Create NJ's 2nd Largest Employer

From now on, they shall be called RWJBarnabas Health.

Barnabas Health and Robert Wood Johnson Health System have finalized a massive merger to form “the most comprehensive health system in the state of New Jersey,” a company news release stated Thursday.

The new partnership – dubbed RWJBarnabas Health – will serve about five million people, about half of the Garden State’s population, according to a joint statement from the two companies.

RWJBarnabas Health will now become New Jersey’s second largest private employer with more than 32,000 employees, 9,000 physicians and 1,000 residents and interns.

The new entity will include 11 acute-care hospitals in Hudson, Essex, Union, Middlesex, Mercer, Somerset, Monmouth and Ocean counties. It will also include three children’s hospitals, a pediatric rehabilitation hospital, a behavioral health center, ambulatory care centers and five fitness and wellness centers.

The final terms of the merger was announced in July of 2015 and had been pending approval from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

• See related article: Merger Finalized For The Largest Hospital Chain In New Jersey

Under the terms of the agreement, the two health systems have implemented a member substitution, creating a new organization based in West Orange.

Barnabas Health president and chief executive officer Barry Ostrowsky will become RWJBarnabas Health’s president and chief executive officer, with former Robert Wood Johnson Health System and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital president and chief executive officer Stephen Jones serving as chief academic officer in the Office of the President.

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