According to nj.com.
WESTWOOD, N.J. (KYTX) - A New Jersey hospital has named Tyler native Chad Melton as its CEO, and he already has plans to bring at least one aspect from Texas to his new surroundings.
It's standard practice at many New Jersey hospitals to charge patients for parking and cable television. That's not how they do things in Texas, where the new CEO of Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley was born and raised.
Melton told NJ.com that parking and TV will be free for patients, who will also have private rooms with individual bathrooms at the former Pascack Valley Hospital. Patients will also have 24-hour room service.
Hackensack University Medical Center and LHP Hospital Group named Melton CEO of Pascack Valley Hospital in July. He worked with LHP for the past two years as a director of operations for the company's hospitals in Texas, Idaho and Connecticut.
Melton was born in Tyler, a city of about 100,000 people roughly 100 miles east of Dallas. By Texas standards, that's a small town, Melton said.
His philosophy is to balance service, quality and finances. Melton said it was a myth that for-profit companies like LHP focus only on cost-cutting.
"You never have to worry about cutting expenses as long as you're able to grow your volume," he said.
For Melton, Pascack Valley is an opportunity to build a hospital up from scratch. Although the hospital has stood on Old Hook Road for decades, it has sat mostly empty since going bankrupt in 2007.
There is activity at Pascack Valley now though, with the emergency department taking 1,000 visits a month and construction crews working to strip back and rebuild much of the building's interior. A new catheterization laboratory, MRI facilities, a new lobby and emergency department are some items coming to the new hospital.
The hospital will have 128 beds, all in individual private rooms.
To read more, visit http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2012/08/new_ceo_of_hackensack_university_medical_center_at_pascack_valley_plans_texas-style_amenities_for_ho.html.
