Hospital Association President Gary Carter Announces ...( PRINCETON N.J. Sept. 12 -- Gary ...),Health

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Gary S. Carter, president and CEO of the 118-member New Jersey Hospital Association, announced today that he'll retire next June. Carter has been at the helm of NJHA and its various affiliate organizations for the past 14 years. During that time he has built a solid reputation for his candor and ability to tackle and help resolve complex health policy issues.

Known as an innovator and consensus builder, the 63-year-old Carter strengthened NJHA's advocacy efforts in Trenton and Washington, D.C.; oversaw the launch of the NJHA Quality Institute; championed the public release of hospital cost and outcome data to consumers; and improved hospitals' relations with physicians.

"Gary Carter not only brought strength and stability to NJHA's membership, but he's served the state's entire healthcare community well with his ability to solve problems straight on," said NJHA Board Chairman Michael D'Agnes, president and CEO of Raritan Bay Medical Center. "Both as a professional and personally, I'll miss his good counsel. He's leaving behind a healthcare delivery landscape that he helped shape in many ways."

During his tenure, Carter led hospital and related healthcare providers by advocating for adequate Medicare, Medicaid and charity care funding; proposing changes in the state's health planning regulations; and strengthening relations with doctors and health insurers, particularly managed care companies. He has always remained focused on hospitals' ultimate customers -- the patients -- by supporting efforts to improve healthcare quality and patient safety and pushing hard to give consumers access to hospital clinical outcome data through the Internet.

Carter shared his healthcare views directly with the public through his monthly newspaper commentaries that have run in New Jersey's daily newspapers for more than a decade.

"It has been a privilege to serve our state's hospitals and help the
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