“We are thrilled to be celebrating our 10^th year of being recognized by this preeminent organization for our continued efforts to improve the health and wellness of our employees and their families,” said Barry H. Ostrowsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of RWJBarnabas Health.  â€œIn a year of unprecedented and significant challenges for our country and the healthcare community at large, the CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation signifies our steadfast commitment to our employees and their families’ health and well-being in protecting them against cancer and reducing the risk for other serious medical conditions.”

Employers across the country and from many industries are keenly aware of the positive impact they can have on health, their employees and controlling healthcare costs when they take steps to address cancer and other chronic diseases. More than 200 private, nonprofit and government employers have earned Gold Standard accreditation, including health and wellness influencers like the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CEO Roundtable on Cancer, a nonprofit organization of CEOs, created the Gold Standard to recognize employers for taking exceptional health and wellness measures on behalf of their employees and family members. To earn Gold Standard accreditation, an employer must take concrete actions to reduce the risk and burden of cancer:

• prohibit tobacco use and support tobacco cessation efforts;
• promote physical activity, healthy nutrition and weight management;
• provide health insurance options that include detecting cancer at its earliest stages, access to quality care and participation in cancer clinical trials;
• promote employee awareness of these initiatives; and
• support the needs of cancer survivors in the workplace.

Under its Let’s Be Healthy Together mission, RWJBarnabas has maintained a longstanding commitment to protecting the health of its employees and their families, including offering robust employee wellness and tobacco cessation programs. In addition, RWBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, provide patients integrated cancer care from screening to diagnosis to treatment and survivorship including the most advanced treatment options such as clinical trials, complex surgical procedures, and sophisticated radiation therapy techniques.

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About RWJBarnabas Health

RWJBarnabas Health is the largest, most comprehensive academic health care system in New Jersey, with a service area covering nine counties with five million people. The system includes eleven acute care hospitals; three acute care children’s hospitals and a leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital with a network of outpatient centers, a freestanding 100-bed behavioral health center, two trauma centers, a satellite emergency department, ambulatory care centers, geriatric centers, the state’s largest behavioral health network, comprehensive home care and hospice programs, fitness and wellness centers, retail pharmacy services, a medical group, multi-site imaging centers and an accountable care organization.

RWJBarnabas Health is New Jersey’s largest private employer – with more than 33,000 employees, 9,000 physicians and 1,000 residents and interns – and routinely captures national awards for outstanding quality and safety. RWJBarnabas Health in partnership with Rutgers University is creating New Jersey’s largest academic health care system. This collaboration aligns RWJBarnabas Health with Rutgers’ education, research and clinical activities, including those at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey – the state’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.