Balancing Act
South Jersey’s medical providers prioritize care for their patients while tackling issues around technogy and workforce shortages.
Providing high-quality care to patients while simultaneously handling the business side of medicine has perhaps never been trickier, and the number of obstacles seems to grow every year. Fortunately, South Jersey is home to a number of organizations, big and small, that are meeting those problems head on.
South Jersey Biz spoke to Michael D’Amico, vice president of Oaks Integrated Care; Sherri DeVita, RN, BSBA, BSBC, senior vice president of clinical operations at Samaritan; and Dr. Noah Lindenberg of Lindenberg Cancer & Hematology Center, to learn more about important trends in the industry.
What are some of the unique challenges that an organization likes yours is currently facing?
Michael D’Amico: “There are several that are specific to us. New Jersey Medicaid has been in a years-long process of transitioning the coverage of behavioral health services from being covered directly under Medicaid to now being covered by our five managed care plans that are contracted with Medicaid. That’s been a very significant shift in terms of operations, how individuals are accessing care, how providers are billing and receiving payment for care.
“The decision to use artificial intelligence in behavioral health is an ever-present discussion and a challenge that we’re working through. At Oaks, we’ve been exploring different opportunities to embed AI in our organization, with the intent of improving care delivery, improving the client experience, and improving the fidelity of the services we provide.
“We also have something going on right now with CMS, the Center for Medicaid Services. It’s called the Access Model, and it’s something we are at the early stages of implementing. … The goal is to provide incentive-based payment for hitting some metrics around improved assessment of depression and anxiety for folks that we’re treating, and how we’re using things like remote patient monitoring and connecting with individuals via apps and other resources to help individuals along their recovery or treatment journey.”
Sherri DeVita: “Samaritan has been the region’s largest and leading provider of expert and compassionate palliative and hospice care for more than 46 years. As a not-for-profit provider, the challenges are particularly significant: We must balance financial discipline and operational efficiency while never losing sight of our mission to ensure compassionate, equitable care for everyone who needs it.
“Our staff is the greatest asset. Hospice and palliative medicine is profoundly human work, and the quality of care we provide is insperable from the well-being, engagement and resilience of the people who deliver it.”
How do you determine when to incorporate medical advancements?
Noah Lindenberg: “I believe in being progressive and embracing innovation when it can make a meaningful difference for our patients. Oncology is one of the most rapidly advancing areas of medicine, and new technologies are giving us opportunities to understand and treat cancer in ways that were not possible even a relatively short time ago.
“When evaluating new technology, I look closely at the evidence and whether it can improve patient outcomes, provide better diagnostic information, increase safety or give us information that can meaningfully guide an individual’s treatment.
“Molecular and genomic testing are excellent examples. These advances have transformed how we approach many cancers by helping us better understand the unique characteristics of an individual patient’s cancer and, when appropriate, select treatments specifically targeted to those characteristics.
“I am very interested in innovation and believe patients in an independent community practice should have access to advanced technology and modern treatment options. Ultimately, innovation is most valuable when it allows us to provide better, more personalized care.”
How will AI continue to impact health care in the near future?
NL: “I believe artificial intelligence has tremendous potential in health care, particularly as a tool that can support physicians and health care professionals and enhance the way we care for patients.
“In oncology, physicians are evaluating an extraordinary amount of information—from medical records and laboratory trends to imaging, pathology, genomic information and rapidly evolving research. AI has the potential to help organize and analyze that information more efficiently, allowing physicians to identify important information and spend more time applying their clinical expertise and communicating directly with patients.
“AI may also help streamline documentation, scheduling, prior authorizations and other routine processes. If technology can give physicians and nurses more time to spend with their patients, I see that as a very positive advancement.
“At the same time, the human component of medicine will always be essential. Technology cannot replace clinical judgment, compassion or the relationship and trust that develops between a patient and their physician.”
Do labor shortages in health care continue to concern you?
MD: “Absolutely. Our staff and what they do are paramount to our success, and we’ve been making concerted efforts to having the right people in the right positions. One of the things we’ve focused on is enhancing our internship program. We’re working more closely with degree programs at universities like Rutgers, Rider and TCNJ, and we have a much more robust internship program where we’re able to host students, give them experience, train the future workforce, and then see how some of those internships matriculate into employment opportunities once they graduate.”
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Published (and copyrighted) in South Jersey Biz, Volume 16, Issue 9 (September 2026).
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