NJTV to Premiere Town Hall Series STATE OF NJ'S HEALTH, 6/25

NJTV, New Jersey's public television network, premieres the second program in its four-part town hall series, The State of NJ's Health.

The episode, recorded at the Rutgers iTV studio in Piscataway earlier this month and entitled The State of NJ's Health: Healthcare Hot Spots, premieres Wednesday, June 25 at 8pm, with encore presentations on July 5 at 1pm and July 6 at 6pm on NJTV (check local listings).

Hosted by veteran journalist and newly-announced anchor of NJTV News, Mary Alice Williams, this hour-long town hall discussion examines the challenges surrounding public access to primary health care in the age of the Affordable Care Act and Accountable Care Organizations. Expert panelists engage in dialogue before an audience of key stakeholders, health and healthcare practitioners and the general public.

Healthcare Hot Spots participants assess a variety of local primary healthcare issues, including the use of hospital emergency departments as primary-care facilities and ways New Jerseyans are pioneering to cut health care costs and improve overall access to primary healthcare.

The program includes discussion with the founder of two North Jersey clinics that reach out into various communities to offer residents primary care and looks at Atlantic City's Special Care Center, a hospital clinic meant to divert patients out of hospital emergency rooms to give them the long-term care and guidance they need to reduce their reliance on emergency visits. It also highlights MacArthur Genius Award-winner Dr. Jeffrey Brenner's use of hospital data to identify where Camden's sickest patients are, with a goal to get them better care than emergency departments can offer.

The State of NJ's Health: Healthcare Hot Spots panelists are:

Uwe E. Reinhardt, James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University

Joel Cantor, Director of the Center for State Health Policy and Distinguished Professor Dept. of Public Policy at Rutgers University

Dr. Herb Conaway, NJ State Assemblyman and Director Pulmonary Clinic at St. Francis Medical , Trenton , NJ

Cindy Sickora, DNP, RN Associate Professor & Director of Community Programs for Rutgers School of Nursing and Director - Jordan and Harris Community Healthcare Center

Suzanne Willard, PhD, RN, APN-C, FNNA, Associate Dean, Rutgers College of Nursing and Director- Focus Wellness Center

Kelvin Roberson, Community Outreach & Development of Urban Healthcare Initiative Program

Dr. Alexander Salerno, Founder of Urban Healthcare Initiative Program

Susan Mende, BSN, MPH, Senior Program Officer of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Natassia Rozario, Associate Counsel, Senior Program Manager of Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers

Reverend Edward Livingston, Executive Director of Camden Churches Organized for People

Andrew Miller, MD, MPH Medical Director of Healthcare Quality Strategies, Inc.

The State of NJ's Health: Healthcare Hot Spots is a production of NJTV and is made possible by major funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The first town hall episode of the four-part series, The State of NJ's Health: Growing Healthy Kids,discussed the topic of childhood obesity. It aired in March of this year and was recorded at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Children's Hospital of New Jersey. It can now be seen online. Subsequent town halls in the series, still to be scheduled, will tackle other health themes, including the adverse effects of inner city stress on children, and the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the mental health of Jersey Shore residents.

About NJTV

NJTV, New Jersey's public television station, brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to New Jersey and its tri-state neighbors. NJTV presents such acclaimed PBS series asNature, American Masters, Charlie Rose, and BBC World News America and a range of documentaries and children's programs. NJTV offers an array of local news and cultural offerings on air and online including On the Record with Michael Aron, Tales of the Jersey Shore, Driving Jersey, NJDocs, Due Process, One-on-One with Steve Adubato, Classroom Close-Up NJ and State of the Arts. The network's flagship news broadcast, NJTV News, features stories from across the Garden State. NJTV complements its growing news staff by partnering with state-wide media and higher education institutions. NJTV is also a leader in connecting with viewers on emerging platforms, including the NJTV website where users can stream PBS content for free and local educators can find free, classroom-ready, digital resources.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the largest private foundation in New Jersey and the nation's largest philanthropy working to improve the health and health care of all Americans. We are striving to build a national culture of health that will enable all Americans to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. The Foundation has invested more than $1.5 billion in New Jersey since 1972. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org/nj. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.