Valley Health System opens new smart hospital

Valley Health System (Ridgewood, NJ), recently celebrated the opening of its new patient-centered smart hospital in Paramus, NJ, as the organization’s new flagship location.

“Our new hospital in Paramus will raise the bar on everything we do and how we provide care to our patients,” said Chief Executive Officer Audrey Meyers. “This facility will serve as the premier healthcare destination for our region for generations to come.”

Located 2.5 miles from its former Ridgewood site, the new hospital leverages the MEDITECH Expanse platform and other advanced technologies to improve workflows in all areas of the organization, from network infrastructure to clinical functions to administrative operations.

The new 370-bed facility is designed to improve the patient experience and give clinicians more time for direct care. Features include 75-inch footwall monitors where patients can view their medical information and diagnostic images, as well as access environmental controls to manage lighting, shades, and room temperature. Room monitors also leverage real-time location system (RTLS) tracking to display the identity of care team members entering the patient’s room. New AI-assisted video monitoring can detect signs of potential falls based on the patient’s movements.

Valley’s state-of-the-art hospital also includes single-patient rooms for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients, an expanded Emergency Department, and an intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite. 

Valley Health System’s VP of Information Systems and CIO Eric Carey explained that the Paramus hospital, first announced in 2017, has been built from the ground up to mitigate patient disruptions. 

“Now that we have opened our doors and are caring for patients, we are already seeing the powerful positive impact that advanced technology provides for patients and the entire patient care team.  We have created an environment that is transforming how patient care is delivered,” said Carey. “Technology abounds in the clinical care space and in the patient room settings.  Clinical and patient experience enhancements are delivering excellent clinical outcomes.  Our systems are integrated to avoid duplication of effort, with pertinent data integrated into our MEDITECH Expanse EHR.”

The Ridgewood campus will remain open as an outpatient care location, with laboratory, diagnostic, and endoscopy services being provided, and it will continue to serve as home to Valley’s Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Center and The Valley Breast Center. Later this year, The Valley Hospital Community Care Clinic and Valley’s Graduate Medical Education program will be relocated to the campus.

“It has been a privilege to work with the Valley team on the move to their new facility. They invested in a great deal of strategic planning, dedicated foresight, innovative thinking, and intensive planning to get to this day,” said MEDITECH Customer Success Manager Lorie Gill. “We appreciate the opportunity to ensure the Expanse EHR fits their unique needs.” 

Valley Health System’s commitment to improving care through innovation has earned them recognition among CHIME Digital Health’s “Most Wired” organizations for the past 22 consecutive years. Most recently, Newsweek named the organization one of the World’s Best Hospitals in its 2023 list.