Delivering NJ’s Premier Academic Health System

February 4, 2021

Dear members of the RBHS and RWJBarnabas Health communities:

We are pleased to announce the achievement of a significant milestone in our mission to build a premier academic health system dedicated to education, research and the delivery of healthcare to benefit patients, students and the citizens of New Jersey. Rutgers University and RWJBarnabas Health have taken a step toward integrating the clinical services provided within the University’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the New Brunswick region and RWJBarnabas Health medical group practices through the execution of an Integrated Practice Agreement (“IPA”), creating one of the largest integrated health systems in the country

Under the IPA, which was effective July 1, 2020, the University and RWJBarnabas Health will coordinate and expand quality healthcare for the citizens of New Jersey and beyond. The agreement will not integrate Rutgers’ New Jersey Medical School clinical services in the Newark area or impact the clinical services provided by New Jersey Medical School at University Hospital in Newark. It also does not include the clinical services of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and certain other Rutgers clinical activities, as agreed by the University and RWJBarnabas Health in the 2018 Master Affiliation Agreement.

All current Rutgers employees in the clinical practices will remain Rutgers employees, and academic leaders in those practices will continue to lead the recruitment of new faculty. RWJBarnabas Health will assume responsibility for the patient experience and administration of the RWJMS clinical enterprise. 

Since its beginning, the affiliation has already enabled the growth of our research, clinical and education missions and resulted in the following accomplishments:

• Recruitment of 35 of the world’s foremost researchers in critical health care disciplines, including oncology and neurosurgery.
• Recruitment of more than 250 clinical faculty at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and New Jersey Medical School, providing care to patients of all types.
• Major investment in the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, including a joint-project to build a $750 million cancer pavilion in New Brunswick.
• Establishment of a $10 million fund to retain top medical students and hire them within the shared health system.
• Development of a state-of-the-art clinical trial infrastructure, which supported COVID-19 vaccine trials by pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, among other critical pandemic studies.

Together, we have much to celebrate today as we mark this important step on our continued path to bring world-class healthcare to New Jersey.

Additional information, including the press release from today’s announcement, along with a list of frequently asked questions, can be found on the website www.rutgersrwjbhtogether.org.

Sincerely,

Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH
Chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Rutgers University

Barry H. Ostrowsky
President and CEO
RWJBarnabas Health

Watch the Announcement Video