St. Luke’s Warren Campus has thrived since the hospital became part of St. Luke’s University Health Network a decade ago.
The past several years have been banner years for St. Luke’s Warren Campus, as it has been widely recognized for the consistently high level of quality patient care it has delivered to the community; a welcome change for the greater Phillipsburg, N.J., area, which just 10 years ago feared that the former Warren Hospital might close its doors.
Feb. 1 marked the 10th anniversary of Warren Hospital joining St. Luke’s University Health Network; a partnership that has provided crucial support to allow the hospital to recover–and thrive–for the benefit of Phillipsburg and surrounding Warren County.
Over the past decade, St. Luke’s has invested more than $125 million in New Jersey to fund a range of improvements at St. Luke’s Warren Campus and at new or expanded satellite locations, such as:
- Adding or expanding many services, such as surgical services, weight management, endocrinology, rheumatology, nephrology, various pediatric subspecialities and more.
- Rebuilding most of the patient care areas—including the intensive care unit, the emergency department, the medical/surgical floors, the infusion center, the main operating room and the gastrointestinal suite—to provide a state-of-the-art clinical setting.
- Developing new health centers and/or urgent care centers in Clinton, Belvidere and Lopatcong Township.
- Adding new specialty suites both north and south of the main campus that encompass nearly 100,000 square feet of programming in more than 10 different medical specialties.
- Updating, expanding or introducing additional satellite locations across Warren County and into Hunterdon County to improve access to care.
- Implementing the highest-rated electronic medical record system in the country, Epic, to improve interdisciplinary communication and continuity of care.
“Care in Warren County has been greatly improved as evidenced by the highest ratings earned by St. Luke’s University Health Network and its Warren Campus,” said Warren Campus President Scott R. Wolfe.
In 2021 alone, Warren Campus earned numerous national awards and honors, including:
- An ‘A’ grade for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group
- The Leapfrog Group’s “Top Hospital” award
- American Heart Association’s Gold Plus with Honor Roll Elite and Diabetes Honor Roll
“In addition,” Wolfe said, “the financial condition of St. Luke’s Warren Campus has been improved dramatically since joining St. Luke’s, starting immediately upon its entry into the well-respected Network.”
St. Luke’s Warren Campus has also forged key relationships in New Jersey, such as its strategic affiliation with Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health (RWJBH), the largest academic and health network in the state. This affiliation allows New Jersey residents, whose insurance carriers require them to receive higher levels of care in New Jersey, to be transferred or referred to RWJBH facilities for their advanced care services, such as cardiology, trauma, behavioral health and neurosurgery, if that care is not readily available at St. Luke’s Warren Campus.
“Our primary goal in developing this relationship is to reduce health disparities that have long existed in Northwest New Jersey, specifically those in Warren County,” Wolfe explained. “RWJBH’s breadth and depth of acute, tertiary and quaternary services; its extensive investment in graduate medical education and clinical research; and its proximity to the markets we serve uniquely qualifies it to be our partner in addressing this pressing issue.”
“A decade ago,” said Karen Kubert, St. Luke’s Warren Campus Board Chairman, “it would have been nearly possible to envision the revitalization of Warren Hospital and the powerful impact of its partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network. Today, the Warren Campus’s restored reputation is spreading by word of mouth.”
“We are bringing key services back and introducing important new services into the community by listening to its needs,” she said. “We are there for the community, and the community knows it. We can all take a great deal of pride in the work we have done to get us here.”
Wolfe recalled that a decade ago the hospital needed a broader and deeper medical staff, an updated main campus, more satellite locations, a new clinical information system and a broader array of services to fill the vacuum created by its curtailment of services over the prior decade. “Most importantly,” he added, “it needed its finances shored up immediately to stay in business to serve the community. Warren Hospital believed that St. Luke’s University Health Network had the best track record in accomplishing such goals.”
Currently Warren Campus is further expanding its primary and ancillary services into northwest New Jersey and, specifically, expanding its interventional radiology/cardiac catheterization lab to provide both diagnostic and interventional catheterizations to the community.
Note: This local health news is brought to you in partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network.
