Acuity Specialty Hospital of New Jersey to open Long Term Acute Care Facility in Atlantic City
[ Press Release ]November 3, 2009
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — AcuityHealthcare, a privately-held Long Term
Acute Care (LTAC) hospital company will soon open a new 30-bed LTAC
hospital in Atlantic City. The new facility, Acuity Specialty Hospital
of New Jersey, will be located at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center
(ARMC), City Campus, Atlantic City. As the first LTAC hospital in this
region of New Jersey, it will represent a major new healthcare resource
for patients and traditional hospitals.
AcuityHealthcare, which specializes in establishing and operating LTAC hospitals nationwide, partnered with AtlantiCare in the development and operation of this new hospital, which will employ a staff of approximately 150 to complement its attending and consulting physicians.
Acuity Specialty Hospital provides intensive acute care services to medically complex and critically ill patients requiring extended hospital stays averaging 25 days. Patients who meet acute care criteria for being admitted to the Acuity Specialty Hospital of New Jersey will be seen by physician specialists daily and will likely be discharged to acute and sub-acute rehabilitation centers, skilled nursing facilities and/or home.
“Traditional hospitals are equipped and staffed to manage critically ill and medically complex patients for a limited amount of time,” commented AcuityHealthcare President and CEO Ed Cooper. “Acuity Specialty Hospital is specifically designed to manage these same patients over a longer period of time. As such, it impacts the healthcare continuum by providing quality care with improved outcomes for high acuity patients in a state-of-the-art, full service hospital, and by keeping vital critical care beds open in regional hospitals.”
Cooper noted that approximately 40 percent of New Jersey patients requiring long term acute care currently travel as far as Philadelphia for hospitalization – placing an enormous burden on families and complicating the coordination of care. The establishment of an LTAC hospital in this region of New Jersey alleviates this situation, by providing this level of service in the same community where patients and families live and work.
“Acuity Specialty Hospital will be a tremendous benefit to trauma patients and others who need long-term acute care hospital services,” said Lori Herndon, president and CEO, ARMC. “It will also be convenient and effective for patients who are being weaned from ventilators, those who need complex inpatient wound care and other patients with serious medical conditions requiring a protracted in-patient stay."
Over 100 attending and consulting physicians representing the full spectrum of disciplines will lead care teams consisting of case management staff, advanced cardiac life support certified registered nurses, respiratory therapists, registered dietitians, certified wound ostomy nurses, clinical pharmacists and physical, occupational and speech therapists. Patients will see attending physicians daily and will have access to the services of multiple specialists including, pulmonologists, cardiologists, infectious disease specialists, general surgeons, trauma surgeons, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, urologists, nephrologists, podiatrists, psychiatrists and otolaryngologists.
Acuity Specialty Hospital of New Jersey will accept referrals from hospitals, rehabilitative and skilled nursing facilities, clinicians and families. The hospital is expected to open in late November. Acuity Specialty Hospital of New Jersey is located at, 1925 Pacific Avenue, Atlantic City, 5th Floor Wellness/Friendship Pavilion, and can be reached at (609) 441-2122.
AcuityHealthcare, which specializes in establishing and operating LTAC hospitals nationwide, partnered with AtlantiCare in the development and operation of this new hospital, which will employ a staff of approximately 150 to complement its attending and consulting physicians.
Acuity Specialty Hospital provides intensive acute care services to medically complex and critically ill patients requiring extended hospital stays averaging 25 days. Patients who meet acute care criteria for being admitted to the Acuity Specialty Hospital of New Jersey will be seen by physician specialists daily and will likely be discharged to acute and sub-acute rehabilitation centers, skilled nursing facilities and/or home.
“Traditional hospitals are equipped and staffed to manage critically ill and medically complex patients for a limited amount of time,” commented AcuityHealthcare President and CEO Ed Cooper. “Acuity Specialty Hospital is specifically designed to manage these same patients over a longer period of time. As such, it impacts the healthcare continuum by providing quality care with improved outcomes for high acuity patients in a state-of-the-art, full service hospital, and by keeping vital critical care beds open in regional hospitals.”
Cooper noted that approximately 40 percent of New Jersey patients requiring long term acute care currently travel as far as Philadelphia for hospitalization – placing an enormous burden on families and complicating the coordination of care. The establishment of an LTAC hospital in this region of New Jersey alleviates this situation, by providing this level of service in the same community where patients and families live and work.
“Acuity Specialty Hospital will be a tremendous benefit to trauma patients and others who need long-term acute care hospital services,” said Lori Herndon, president and CEO, ARMC. “It will also be convenient and effective for patients who are being weaned from ventilators, those who need complex inpatient wound care and other patients with serious medical conditions requiring a protracted in-patient stay."
Over 100 attending and consulting physicians representing the full spectrum of disciplines will lead care teams consisting of case management staff, advanced cardiac life support certified registered nurses, respiratory therapists, registered dietitians, certified wound ostomy nurses, clinical pharmacists and physical, occupational and speech therapists. Patients will see attending physicians daily and will have access to the services of multiple specialists including, pulmonologists, cardiologists, infectious disease specialists, general surgeons, trauma surgeons, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, urologists, nephrologists, podiatrists, psychiatrists and otolaryngologists.
Acuity Specialty Hospital of New Jersey will accept referrals from hospitals, rehabilitative and skilled nursing facilities, clinicians and families. The hospital is expected to open in late November. Acuity Specialty Hospital of New Jersey is located at, 1925 Pacific Avenue, Atlantic City, 5th Floor Wellness/Friendship Pavilion, and can be reached at (609) 441-2122.