Empowering Health > Letters From The President > Letter From Robert Wise, President and CEO

Dear Friends,

People often tell us they enjoy reading Experience articles that focus on how impactful Hunterdon Medical Center’s advanced medical treatments and interventions have on returning our patients back to health. Many of these stories are testimonials from the patients themselves. Their heartwarming letters describing the extraordinary skills of our caregivers often become the inspiration our staff needs to achieve award-winning outcomes. And in 2006 alone Hunterdon Medical Center received national recognition in these clinical programs:

Hunterdon Regional Cancer Center is one of only 39 hospitals chosen nationally for an American College of Surgeons Outstanding Achievement Award. The Cancer Center has been open just seven years, yet we were the only cancer center in New Jersey to win this prestigious award.

Hunterdon Medical Center’s Emergency Department finished in the top 1 percent for patient satisfaction in the national Press-Ganey report, the country’s largest compiler of patient-satisfaction data. One reason patients rate us so highly may be because all HMC Emergency Department physicians are board-certified in emergency medicine and our nurse to patient ratio is among the highest in the country.

For the sixth year, HMC’s investment in technology has ranked us among the “100 Most Wired” hospitals in the US. For the patient, that means HMC physicians, nurses, lab and medical technologists can communicate test results immediately though our computer network. “Most Wired” means faster treatment and better results.

We realize that today there is a dramatic change in the way our patients make healthcare choices. Our Hunterdon community is especially savvy. While people here like to read testimonials, they want facts before they are convinced that a message is worth believing.

As you read through this issue, you’ll understand why we are proud of our patient care outcomes. No hospital today should have to depend on a marketing budget to convince its community of its quality. You can compare our results, look at our distinguished awards and you’ll see that, based on national standards, health care delivered at HMC has truly earned its national reputation.

That’s what you should expect, and that is the care we pledge to always provide.

Robert P. Wise, President and CEO
Hunterdon Healthcare System