- Hey, everyone, Steve Adubato.

What do you need to know about the world of healthcare?

The question of trust or lack of trust in public health.

We are honored to have once again Carole Johnson, who's currently the President and CEO of University Hospital.

And Carole, great to have you with us.

- It's wonderful to be here.

Thank you for having me, Steve.

- You were previously part of the state administration.

Then you went to the federal government.

Now you're back as the CEO and President of University Hospital.

For those who don't know University, we'll put up the website.

Tell everyone what the footprint is and why it's so impactful at University Hospital.

- Well, University Hospital is the only state-supported acute care public hospital in New Jersey.

We are essential to the care that's delivered immediately in our community, in Newark and the surrounding areas, but if you live in New Jersey, you should care about the health and well-being of University Hospital.

Because we are training the next generation of docs.

We are the principal teaching hospital for Rutgers.

We are the level one trauma center for North Jersey, state-designated.

So if you have a trauma event in North Jersey, you're liking coming to us, and we do world-class trauma care.

And we run the helicopter services and supports all across the state.

And so hopefully you don't encounter us that way, but if you do, that's our trained expert team on those helicopters.

So we are part of the fabric of this state.

- Thank you, Carole.

Let me try this.

Because you understand the federal government and worked in the previous administration, the Biden administration, you understand when there are cuts to Medicaid.

What is your sense as to the impact of the federal cuts in Medicaid to the most vulnerable population who depends upon Medicaid?

- These cuts, Steve, are an existential threat to healthcare services in New Jersey.

People who depend on Medicaid are going, the cuts are designed to make it hard for people to retain their Medicaid.

It's just meant to be a volume of paperwork coming at people.

So many people on Medicaid work, but now, you're gonna have to continuously prove you're working, continuously prove that you maintain your eligibility.

Again, we used to do that at the state level once a year.

Now you're gonna have to do it multiple times.

You're gonna have to have all this documentation.

Many people on Medicaid work multiple jobs.

You know, if you ask me to go find my last four pay stubs, it would take me a minute.

But now we're gonna ask families who live in very challenging circumstances to have to do that constantly, a system that doesn't even really exist yet, and this is all gonna go into effect in early January.

People are gonna lose their healthcare coverage, and when they lose their healthcare coverage, they're gonna get sicker and they're gonna show up in emergency rooms sicker and needing more services.

- And some of the federal government in the Trump administration argue, "All we're doing is making people document that they're working."

- Well, what I would say to you, Steve, is, the vast majority of people who are working age on Medicaid work.

We know that.

But what we've seen in other states that have tried to, there are a couple of states that tried to implement work requirements a few years ago.

They spent hundreds of tens of millions of dollars on administration.

They spent more on administration than they did on actually the services provided.

And what it was, was basically a whole lot of paperwork that people had to, hoops people had to jump through to be able to continuously document things that we as the State of New Jersey used to be able to do directly once a year, ensure people were eligible, get them their coverage, get them their care.

You know, actually making it harder for people to get healthcare services is not a commitment to the health and well-being of the people of New Jersey.

- You and your team are working together with Rutgers University to train doctors and nurses.

Talk about the pipeline of physicians and nurses, but let's stay on physicians right now.

Why should we be concerned about the pipeline, A, and B, what are you and your colleagues doing about it?

- Yeah, so a couple of things.

One, we are so proud to be the clinical partner where people train to become doctors.

So they do their residency and their fellowship.

So many doctors in New Jersey, if you ask them, they trained here.

Many of them come back and practice here, but if you're getting care anywhere in New Jersey, your doc probably had some time at University Hospital.

Because this year alone, we trained more than 725 residents and fellows.

So this is the pipeline and it matters.

It matters that young people choose healthcare, that they commit to it.

It is hard work.

It is multiple years of training.

And so at a time when the infrastructure of healthcare supports, things like Medicaid cuts, are happening, cuts to the marketplace, the Affordable Care Act marketplace, when those things happen, it sends a signal to the next generation about whether they should choose that line of work.

And that's what we have to push back against.

Because healthcare jobs, being physicians, being clinicians, being caregivers, is gonna be essential for all of us going forward.

And so we need that service, we need that support, and we need to encourage young people to make those choices.

- Carole, why do you believe so many?

Well, let me try it this way.

Our series, trust in public health, graphic's up right now, why is there, to some degree, distrust on the part of some in public health, and why is that such a serious problem?

- Yeah, look, part of the key issue here is about transparency, communication, building trust, talking about, from a healthcare services and public health side, what we know and what we don't know, being open and honest with the community about the things that we're facing.

And so I think public health trust is really about delivering, delivering on our commitments and our promises.

And so what we see here at University Hospital is an incredible level of community trust.

People come to us, people come to our emergency room.

We did more than 102,000 visits in our emergency department last year, because people trust this institution, the people who work here, the people who are of the community who've dedicated their life's work to this community.

And that's what people need to know.

- What's the future for University Hospital?

There have been financial challenges.

You're serving a really underserved community to a large extent.

What do you see as the future, and why are you bullish about University?

- So I'm so bullish because of the incredible community and state partners that we have, both at the city and county leadership level and our state partners and the new administration at the state, really saying, look, you know, for decades, the people of Newark have waited for us to take the trailers down that had been temporary here in Newark, that had been a space where the thought was decades ago, there'd be short-term trailers on some space that would come down and build new facilities for this community.

That was a trade-off the people of Newark made.

They made hard choices to be able to give that land for the purposes of public health in Newark.

Those trailers came down at the end of last year, and new construction is going up because we want new, modern healthcare facilities that match the high-quality care that we offer here at University Hospital.

So that's what I'm so bullish about.

What I am obviously concerned about is how Medicaid cuts are gonna impact this growth and support and agenda that we have to make Newark, to continue to make Newark a world-class healthcare city.

- Carole Johnson has had many roles in public health.

She's been a public health leader for a long time.

She is the President and Chief Executive Officer at University Hospital.

Say it again, Carole, the State of New Jersey, it's the only State of New Jersey, finish that sentence.

- We're the only public acute care hospital in New Jersey.

- Carole Johnson, thank you for joining us, Carole.

I promise we'll have future conversations.

All the best to you and your team.

Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

New Brunswick Development Corporation.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program.

The Burke Foundation And by NJ Transit.

Promotional support provided by NJBIA.

And by New Jersey Globe.

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