Atlantic Health, Newton Memorial Hospital Merger Official

And, then, there were three.

Atlantic Health, the parent company that owns Morristown Memorial, in Morristown, and Overlook Hospital, in Summit, announced Thursday, March 31, the finalization of the merger agreement between Atlantic Health and Newton Memorial Hospital, based in Newton, Sussex County.

“The unification of Atlantic Health and Newton Memorial presents tremendous benefits, first and foremost, to patients in the region,” said Joseph A. Trunfio, CEO of Atlantic Health. “This partnership expands our health care footprint and better positions our hospitals to deliver the highest quality care and services to even more members of the community.”

Through this merger, Newton Memorial patients will benefit from Atlantic Health’s services, including stroke and neurosciences care at the Atlantic Neuroscience Institute at Overlook Hospital, as well as cardiac care at Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute at Morristown Memorial. Working together also helps lower administrative and operational health care costs, including the sharing of health information technology and electronic medical records.

“Atlantic Health shares our commitment to improving the health status of the communities we serve,” said Tom Senker, president of Newton Memorial Hospital. “We look forward to creating additional synergies throughout this partnership to provide a greater breadth of health care services to our patients.”

The two health care providers have collaborated in several areas for years through the patient transfer system, in which cardiovascular, neuroscience and neonatal care patients have received transfer care between Newton and Atlantic Health.

Additional benefits to patients will include broader access to pediatric and specialty care, clinical trials, advanced protocols for emergent care and a strengthened primary care network, making it easier to cope with the increased demand for services that health care reform is expected to generate.

Under the new arrangement, Senker serves as president of Newton Memorial Hospital and holds an officer position at Atlantic Health. Newton Memorial, a community based medical facility serving residents of Sussex and Warren counties in New Jersey, Pike County in Pennsylvania, and Southern Orange County in New York for 78 years, has 146 licensed beds, more than 1,100 employees, and typically treats about 33,000 people in its emergency department each year.