Valley CEO the New Chair of State Hospital Association

President and CEO Audrey Meyers was installed as the chair of the New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) on Friday, the organization said in a news release.

Meyers, who rose through the ranks at Valley after joining as a Planning Associate in 1980, takes over for Thomas A. Biga, of Barnabas Health in Livingston.

At the installation in Princeton on Friday, Meyers asked that the other healthcare leaders in the state tell Washington what a "devastating" effect cuts in Medicare and Medicaid would hold.

"In 2013 alone, New Jersey's healthcare providers stand to lose $130 million in Medicare funding - on top of $4.5 billion in cuts New Jersey hospitals will sustain under the Affordable Care Act," Meyers said in the release. "Recognizing that Medicare already pays New Jersey hospitals and physicians at rates less than costs, these added cuts jeopardize healthcare quality. They jeopardize patient access to care. And they jeopardize jobs and other economic benefits that ripple throughout our communities. We must let Washington know, in a clear and unified voice, that these cuts would have a devastating impact."

Valley's top official since assuming the title of president and CEO in 1999, Meyers had a difficult 2011. Rival Hackensack University Medical Center was in nearby Westwood, and just days later Valley's 'Renewal' expansion plan was declared dead on arrival by the Ridgewood Village Council.

Detractors of the 'Renewal' expansion with a message of vague compromise. Valley representatives have not reappeared before the council with a revised plan.

The hospital, which has racked up numerous awards during Meyers' tenure, needs to modernize its antique facilities or, officials say, it could go the way of recent competitors – insolvent and dissolved.