Newark's University Hospital No. 10 For Community Investment

NEWARK, NJ —University Hospital in Newark has been ranked No. 10 in the country in the first-ever Lown Hospitals Index Community Benefit ranking, which measured hospitals' willingness to invest in community health.

The rankings were released last week by Lown Institute, a national, nonpartisan healthcare think tank that, according to its literature, believes that a radically better system of health is possible and generates bold ideas toward that goal.

According to Lown, the rankings examined 3,641 hospitals based on their Medicaid revenue, charity care spending and other investments that have direct benefit to the community–like health clinics, housing, and food security.

In a release about its findings, Lown indicated that while nonprofit hospitals enjoy big tax breaks, many fail to make commensurate investments in community health. But the hospitals that are high on the list are making those investments.

Shereef Elnahal, the CEO of University Hospital, said the appearance on the list indicates the hospital is coming through on its promises.

"Since I arrived here more than two years ago, I told the Newark community that they will be prioritized in all of our necessary change efforts: We are delivering," he said. "The Newark Agreements call for this hospital to do more than simply serve as a provider of health care in our community — and that's what we are doing."

According to Elnahal the hospital is serving the community better by focusing on programs like: working with the group purchasing organization to increase diversity spend, creating plans to hire and purchase locally and, through a health equity task force, setting hard goals, timelines and metrics for diversifying leadership, promoting from within and addressing implicit bias in many other areas.

The hospital also has invested in a community health-focused partnership with the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, according to a release.

"There should be no doubt that, at University Hospital, community health is not just a part of what we do, but it is at the very core of our mission," Elnahal said.

Lown Institute said the data sources for the rankings included hospital cost reports filed with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and IRS 990 forms, both from 2018.

Elnahal said University Hospital's community health efforts have only accelerated since information was gathered for the study.

Recently, University Hospital has actively worked to vaccinate residents in Newark and surrounding communities against COVID-19, addressing disparities between them, according to a release. University Hospital went into Newark neighborhoods to bring the vaccine to residents.

The hospital also held a Health & Wellness Festival in May, providing COVID-19 vaccines to those who were eligible. Also, screenings for blood glucose, colon cancer, blood pressure and vision were part of the Health & Wellness Festival.

The hospital also provided clinical oversight at the FEMA vaccine megasite in Newark, and has been spearheading the state's mobile vaccination efforts.

The Top 10 hospitals in the Lown Hospitals Index Community Benefit ranking, were:

1. Paradise Valley Hospital (National City, California)
2. Elmhurst Hospital Center (Elmhurst, New York)
3. Queens Hospital Center (Jamaica, New York)
4. Metropolitan Hospital Center (New York City)
5. Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center (Brooklyn)
6. Leonard D. Chabert Medical Center (Houma, Louisiana)
7. NYC Health + Hospitals Coney Island (Brooklyn)
8. Lallie Kemp Medical Center (Independence, Louisiana)
9. Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (San Francisco)
10. University Hospital (Newark)