Interview: Al Maghazehe, President & CEO, Capital Health

Al Maghazehe

President & CEO Capital Health

How has mental health provision changed in the last year?

We have one of the region’s largest crisis centers, an outpatient outreach program and a pretty significant voluntary and involuntary inpatient unit. If we want to keep people well, this is something that needs to be addressed. During 2020, we experienced a significant surge in the number of trauma cases that stemmed from violent crime, such as gunshot wounds and stabbing injuries. We experienced double the amount of these injuries in the crisis center. Nobody talks about traumatic injuries stemming from mental health issues as a result of COVID. Mental health became much more significant as a result of the crisis. We are seeing more demand for programs to deal with serious mental health, depression and anxiety. COVID is coming under control but we are just starting to see the implications of the pandemic, one of which is mental health.

Do you have the proper staffing to handle increasing demand?

In terms of numbers, healthcare is a stable area where there is always demand, giving employees a level of stability. In this economy, where jobs are eliminated so easily, people want some level of insurance. But in healthcare, we are becoming more technologically sophisticated so anyone interested in healthcare will have to mirror this sophistication. That is where our challenge will be.

What are the most exciting innovations going forward?

Right now, we have problems in rural areas where doctors are not interested in working. I think we can use video technology to carry out surgeries remotely. This has already been tested in Canada. This could resolve so many access-to-care issues. Those kinds of things will be the future of what we will do and will eliminate a lot of the prohibitive costs related to access. In the future, there will be very few inpatient hospitals.

There are 113 hospitals in the state of New Jersey, including 71 acute care hospitals.

Where there are universities, there is a growing biotech and life sciences sector, which is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, and due to continue growing. It was this industry, after all, that gave the world the COVID vaccines (Johnson & Johnson is based in New Jersey), thereby allowing the economy to recover from the pandemic. By one estimate, the state of New Jersey is home to 70 companies that are engaged in the fight against the pandemic.

In New Jersey, the industry continues to grow. It provides $83 billion in economic impact, representing 13% of the state’s GDP and, all together, is responsible for about 430,000 jobs (10.6% of all jobs in the state). Adding dependents to that number, 950,000 New Jersey residents have a stake in the biotech and life science industry.

At $44.8 billion, the FY22 budget is the largest in New Jersey history with 64.55 million going to healthcare

Regulatory landscape In terms of political developments, both New Jersey and the United States are being led by executives who value the expansion of healthcare. At the federal level, there is a president that is no longer bent on reducing access through the weakening of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, or reducing consumer safeguards. Just last year, the Supreme Court sided with New Jersey and 15 other states when it threw out a Republican-led, Trump-backed attempt to overturn the ACA. Had the attempt been successful, over 1 million New Jerseyans would have lost coverage.

President Biden, with his thin margins in the legislative houses and a greater focus on infrastructure spending, is unlikely to pass anything as monumental to the industry as the 2010 Affordable Care Act. That won’t stop the administration from trying to expand access, however. The American Rescue Plan Act,