M E M O R A N D U M

TO: Members of the Assembly Healthcare Infrastructure Committee 

FROM: Hilary Chebra, Director, Government Affairs, CCSNJ

RE: Technology/AI Gaps in South Jersey’s Healthcare Landscape 

The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey (CCSNJ) is proud to count all of the region’s major hospital systems among its members, including AtlantiCare, Cooper University Health Care, Deborah Heart and Lung Center, Inspira Health, Jefferson Health, and Virtua Health. On behalf of these members, we thank you for the opportunity to testify today on technology gaps and the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare in South Jersey.

I would also like to thank Chairman Stanley for the invitation to testify, as well as Assemblywoman Heather Simmons for her continued attention to the challenges facing South Jersey’s healthcare landscape, including her support of our recent op-ed on the Rural Health Transformation Fund. The Fund was created to strengthen and modernize rural healthcare systems like those in South Jersey by addressing financial strain, workforce shortages, and critical infrastructure needs. Importantly, modernization today must include digital infrastructure, telehealth capacity, and technology investments that allow providers to deliver care efficiently and equitably.

One persistent barrier our region faces is that many healthcare funding formulas rely heavily on population size. While South Jersey is less densely populated, the need for resources is no less significant. Counties such as Salem, Cumberland, Burlington, Cape May, Ocean, and Atlantic include some of the state’s most rural and underserved communities. In these areas, patients often travel longer distances for care, provider shortages are more pronounced, and a larger share of residents rely on Medicaid or lack insurance altogether. These structural realities make strategic investment in technology not optional, but essential.

In response to these structural challenges, South Jersey’s health systems are investing in digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence to help close access and capacity gaps, but these efforts require sustained support. Hospitals are expanding telehealth to reduce travel burdens and improve specialty access for residents in rural and underserved communities. Targeted AI tools are being deployed to enhance real-time clinical decision support, improve early detection of high-risk conditions, strengthen documentation, and reduce administrative strain on nurses and physicians. Virtual care models and workflow automation are helping to extend limited staffing resources in the face of ongoing workforce shortages.

These advancements are not about technological expansion for their own sake. They are practical responses to rising patient acuity, staffing constraints, aging infrastructure, and financial pressures that are particularly pronounced in lower-density regions.

This is not a rural-versus-urban issue. Healthcare systems across New Jersey are navigating modernization challenges, workforce shortages, and rapid technological change. The difference in South Jersey is not the importance of care, but the structural realities - including geographic spread and funding formulas tied closely to population - that can make scaling innovation more difficult.

Ensuring that all regions of the state can modernize at a comparable pace strengthens New Jersey’s healthcare system as a whole. Strategic investment in digital infrastructure, interoperability, cybersecurity, and workforce readiness will help prevent widening disparities and ensure equitable access to high-quality care, regardless of geography.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. The future of healthcare will be shaped by technology, workforce resilience, and infrastructure readiness. Ensuring that every region of New Jersey can modernize at pace is not simply a policy choice - it is essential to equitable care, economic stability, and community health. CCSNJ looks forward to partnering with the Legislature to advance thoughtful, strategic investments that secure that future for South Jersey and for the state as a whole.