For Release:
  June 28, 2002

Clifton R. Lacy, M.D.
Commissioner

For Further Information Contact:
Laura Otterbourg or Dennis McGowan
609-984-7160

TRENTON - Finding acute care services in New Jersey has been made easier with the launching today of the Department of Health and Senior Services' new web-based database of hospitals and other health care facilities. The new site is at www.state.nj.us/health/hcsa/hospitalsearch/.

The database can be searched by town, county, and facility name or type. It includes information on licensed general, rehabilitation, psychiatric and specialized hospitals; ambulatory care facilities; hospice and home health care providers; and residential substance abuse centers. Under ambulatory care are providers of 17 different services including outpatient surgery, chronic hemodialysis, drug treatment, MRI and primary care.

Each entry on the database includes the facility's name, address, telephone number and license expiration date. Additional information on specific facilities, such as number of licensed beds and specific services provided, can also be accessed through the database. The site also links to the Department's long-term care facility searchable database launched late last year.

"The new web-based database of hospitals and other health care facilities is a key element in our efforts to provide New Jersey health care consumers easy-to-access information on vital services available to them within their communities," said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Clifton R. Lacy, M.D.

The new database is part of a total re-design of the department's acute care website. The new format makes popular consumer products, such as the HMO Performance Report, the Cardiac Surgery Report Card and Acute Care Facility Fines and Enforcement Actions, easier to locate on-line. The acute care homepage is at www.state.nj.us/health/hcsa/.