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The basics:
- NJBIZ Trends in Health Care panel examines access, affordability, AI and workforce burnout
- Included experts from EisnerAmper, Clinical Medical Real Estate Solutions, Hackensack Meridian Health
- AI adoption reshaping patient care, but governance and ethics critical
- Tuition-free program aims to boost primary care
As part of NJBIZ’s latest virtual discussion, health care executives spoke about current trends in technology, practice and policy within their industry. Moderated by NJBIZ Editor Jeffrey Kanige, the Sept. 30 panel featured:
During the 90-minute roundtable discussion, panelists addressed barriers in behavioral health, how artificial intelligence is reshaping patient care and ways to expand health care access where it’s needed most. Additionally, they spoke about workforce challenges.
When it comes to whether the industry should prioritize affordability or accessibility, participants said both areas must be pursued simultaneously to truly improve health care. And, patient outreach is equally important, they said.
Tank said, “The goal is really to understand the communities and the population you serve to understand access and affordability. And then putting clear satellite areas of either wellness centers or the ambulatory practices, because the days of having those traditional models of you only come to a hospital, as we all know, are gone.”
“How do we cater toward certain populations so that we can meet affordability, access and really simplifying health literacy to make sure we have a multi-pronged approach?” she said.
Tank went on to say, “Education is key. The question is really making sure that you are educating. Health care providers may know so many things. If you cannot translate that education into simple speak, we are going to struggle.”
She also stressed the value of partnering with community groups or religious organizations to help facilitate events where the health care industry can connect with patients.
Antishin said, “It’s hard to get individuals into an office or location when they’re feeling good … A lot of it really comes down to patient education. You can have all the access that you need and all the affordability you need, but if you can’t educate your patients to come in and take advantage of those maintenance-type of visits to make sure that they’re being checked when they should be checked, it really is for naught. I think patient education should play within access and affordability to make sure that then when we do have it, we get patients to come in and seek the care that they need.”
Clockwise from top left: Moderated by Editor Jeffrey Kanige, the Sept. 30, 2025, NJBIZ Trends in Health Care Panel Discussion included Dennis Antishin, director, Healthcare, EisnerAmper LLC; Jonathan Marks, founder & CEO, Clinical Medical Real Estate Solutions; and Dr. Lisa Tank, president and chief hospital executive, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Health. – NJBIZ –
Let’s get real (estate)
With more health systems investing in ambulatory care facilities designed to bring services and specialists out of the hospital and into the community, Marks noted those sites are typically in heavily trafficked areas, such as retail corridors.
“And unfortunately, a lot of that is retail pricing for new development, which is actually more costly … That’s where the strategy comes in, where you can look at what the throughput is of the practice, of the hospital; looking at how to co-locate, looking at how to utilize space efficiently and effectively,” he said. “So, when you do go out there, you’re not duplicating services, not adding additional costs and being able to really streamline where the patients are going to be, knowing where the payer mix is, the demographics and the things that are going to be overall successful,” Marks explained. “Being able to provide a setting that is efficient and effective should drive down overall costs … over a larger portfolio.”
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Looking ahead, Marks anticipates continued demand for outpatient care facilities.
“Nationally, it’s about 7.6% of long-term compounded growth over the next five years. It’s pretty similar within New Jersey right now. In New Jersey, there’s about 18 million square feet of medical office space and a 6.7% vacancy rate, so there’s not a lot of space and there hasn’t been a lot of construction,” he said. “The landlords right now are in a huge position of strength. The rents are going up and there’s not a lot of availability.”
But repurposing an existing property for medical use could save as much as 60% compared to building new, he said. “Finding those opportunities and being strategic and thinking, ‘What could that site be,’ is a huge benefit to a hospital system or a medical group to drive down that cost. So, it’s very important,” Marks said.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to help the hospitals and the medical groups be as efficient as possible. We want to provide that care and come up with strategies and find the right opportunities and locations to be able to do that,” he said.
Getting in touch
Over the past four years, HMH has opened four health and wellness centers across New Jersey (Clifton, Paramus, Clark and Eatontown) as a way to make health care easier and more convenient.
A fifth center is coming soon to Metropark Station in Woodbridge.
Hackensack Meridian Health and Wellness Center at Clifton is an 80,000-square-foot, $79 million ambulatory care facility. – PROVIDED BY HMH
Along with launching new urgent care providers in Wyckoff, Hoboken and West Orange, HMH has partnered with Amazon One Medical to add at least 20 clinics in New Jersey over the next few years.
The health care system also just rolled out two state-of-the-art mobile screening centers that offer free health checks and wellness services in underserved communities.
“It’s about creating those accessibilities and creating that awareness that you can step in anytime when you do need any health care demand,” Tank said. “I think the goal is no matter where you are and how much you know, is how do you create multiple touch points … At Hackensack Meridian, we’re truly creating what we call a ‘hospital without walls’ and trying to understand prevention before being reactive.”
Hackensack Meridian Health has partnered with Amazon One Medical to add at least 20 clinics in New Jersey over the next few years. – PROVIDED BY HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH
“We’re here to provide the best quality care to our patients in any setting. And we are here to possibly innovate and transform health care delivery models by adding value-based care and efficiency so that the care is always affordable. And we want to make sure also that all the cutting-edge technology is available to our patients at the center,” she said.
That means including a behavioral health component, Tank said. “As we all know, mental, physical wellness is key. No matter how many innovative treatments you administer, if you don’t treat the mental piece of a person, they are not going to have good outcomes. And everything is based on process and outcomes. So, what we have done is really create these wellness centers where behavioral health is integrated into either primary care or subspecialty care,” she said. “Creating that access doesn’t have to be one model. It can be having behavioral health specialists available in all different areas where there’s touch points.”
Virtual issues
Panelists also pointed out that not everyone has access to telehealth — many face barriers like unreliable internet, lack of devices, limited tech literacy or no coverage in their area.
Antishin said, “I think also providers and health care in general, as they begin to adopt artificial intelligence, I think it will arm them with more information than they currently have to help them target those populations that are underserved, whether it be by bricks-and-mortar or just by overall affordability. … I think they’ll have more information in which to develop strategies for the underserved or lower access workers, our individuals.”
Roughly two-thirds of U.S. health care systems – including hospitals and physician practices – now use some form of AI — especially in electronic records, diagnostics and predictive tools. Usage has grown rapidly since 2023, with more expected to adopt it in the next couple of years, according to the American Medical Association.
“Burnout’s just not a physician thing,” Antishin said. “Burnout is prevalent with nurses and with your peer medical staff. But AI and leveraging the power of AI will help that … It’s not going to solve it, but it will help relieve the burden of burnout in a care delivery type of situation.
“A lot of AI in health care is being adopted for improved deficiencies. And, to remove the pajama time on physicians in reading records. But it does not remove the responsibility of the person to take accountability for the information it’s delivering, and conversely the information they deliver to their patients. I think AI is really a people solution, not a technology solution,” he said.
“Burnout’s just not a physician thing,” said panelist Dennis Antishin – director of financial advisory and accounting firm EisnerAmper LLC’s health care services group. “Burnout is prevalent with nurses and with your peer medical staff. But AI and leveraging the power of AI will help that … It’s not going to solve it, but it will help relieve the burden of burnout in a care delivery type of situation.” – DEPOSIT PHOTOS
“Naturally, it’s based in technology, but it’s really about how we as individuals trust it, accept it, validate it, question it, and press it to do the things that we needed to do to give us more information, better information, quicker information so that we can not only serve our patients, but also serve the organizations that we’re working with,” Antishin explained. “Any way you can mitigate risk and the use of AI to mitigate risk, you’ll find health care organizations leveraging that. And that’s a lot of what we see is the risks that AI presents in healthcare versus the solutions.”
He went on to say, “I think with 80% of health care using AI now, part of the problem is how do they get their arms around managing it? How do they get their arms around the technology, the financial costs, the people component and the clinical risk component?”
At Hackensack Meridian Health, Tank said establishing “a clear governance for AI” was key to ensure guardrails are in place for safety and quality.
“It created that ethical infrastructure to really make sure that all AI data that is coming in, or any EMR [electronic medical record] data that is coming in, there’s always a performance improvement and a quality improvement query going on in the background to really create a process where we are making sure that the decisions that are being made or information that’s being made is continuously being evaluated,” she said.
Caring for baby boomers
As the U.S. grapples with an ongoing shortage of primary care physicians, the health care industry is trying to figure out how best to meet the needs of the one of the country’s biggest populations — baby boomers.
By 2036, the Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortfall of 20,200 to 40,400 primary care doctors. It’s not just a future problem, either. Many communities already struggle to access adequate health care. So, the widening gap means many Americans will not have the benefits of primary care, which research shows improves overall health and leads to fewer hospital visits and less chronic illness.
Panelists noted the implications for New Jersey’s large senior citizen population – especially for those who want to age in place and take advantage of technology for monitoring rather than turning to costly assisted living centers and long-term care facilities.
The continuing dearth comes as medical school debt has greatly outpaced inflation over the past several decades. As a result, many medical students may start out expressing an interest in primary care but wind up pursuing higher-paid specialties.
For those who do become primary care physicians, they’re more likely to burn out compared to doctors focused on areas like cardiology, urology, plastic surgery or gastroenterology. Contributing factors include rising administrative burdens, heavy workloads, and shortage of clinical and support staff, the AMA found.
Easing (some) burdens
Tank said, “I think burnout is constantly happening … At Hackensack Meridian Health and having a medical school, we created pathways for students who are interested in primary care that offer tuition forgiveness.”
Last year, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine became the latest to roll out a tuition-free experiment. As part of the Primary Care Scholars program, the Edison-based health care network offers fully covered tuition to the most promising students who have agreed to pursue family medicine, pediatrics or internal medicine on the school’s accelerated three-year degree track.
If they complete their M.D. and finish their residency at one of the 18 hospitals across Hackensack Meridian’s network, tuition will be totally covered and all debt forgiven. The program also includes a monthly award of $2,500 to assist students with living expenses so they can focus more fully on their studies.
“And then having residencies, because the goal is also not only just educating and moving the students through the journey of medical school, but also to make sure that we retain them within New Jersey or we have them come back to New Jersey. So, I think those kind of innovative pathways and really creating affordability within students to become primary care doctors and geriatricians, I think that is fundamental and we have been successful in doing that,” she said.
