Improving Access to Health Care

Access to care extends beyond the walls of a hospital. Through partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers, trusted community health workers, and cost-free transportation support, we are meeting people where they are and removing barriers that too often stand in the way of care. Together, these efforts help patients navigate the health system, access care closer to home, and get to appointments and essential services – strengthening continuity of care, improving health outcomes, and ensuring access does not depend on a person’s access to a car.

Fighting Food Insecurity

RWJBarnabas Health is tackling food insecurity through a multi-layered, food-as-medicine strategy. This includes five Food Farmacies across Middlesex, Mercer, Hudson, and Essex Counties, with two additional locations opening in Newark in 2026, offering healthy food alongside nutrition counseling and culturally-relevant education led by registered dietitians. In 2025 alone, the Farmacies distributed over 330,000 pounds of food to over 52,000 individuals and 13,000 households. Complementing this work is a three-year partnership with Brigaid, embedding seven executive chefs across Newark public schools to enhance meals and train staff, and the launch of Harvest: A Farm to Community Center – an 8,000-square-foot-, first-of-its-kind hub supporting food distribution, cooking education, nutrition counseling, and local food entrepreneurs.

Enhancing Economic Stability

As an anchor institution, RWJBarnabas Health works with local vendors throughout nine New Jersey counties to promote economic growth in the communities we serve. Additionally, the health system created jobs and clear career paths inside and outside our organization for members of our local communities. RWJBarnabas Health’s Community Health and Human Resources teams continue to support Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) neighborhoods through employment and training opportunities. The health system’s collective efforts have resulted in over 3,000 ALICE hires across the system since 2021, with an average retention rate of 80%. RWJBarnabas Health also invested $2 million in The Bridge Project, a groundbreaking initiative that provides unconditional cash assistance to low-income new and expectant mothers.

Community Health Worker Program

RWJBarnabas Health’s team of 90 Community Health Workers (CHWs) serve as a critical part of the continuum of care as resources for vulnerable individuals to help close care gaps, improve patient outcomes, and reduce emergency room visits and hospital readmissions. CHWs assist patients with their health and social needs for up to 120 days and are embedded in hospitals and emergency departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), homeless and community centers, Food Farmacies, and at community health events. CHWs work alongside patients and community members to: screen for social determinants of health to ensure patients are living in healthy environments, have access to healthy food, are getting – and taking – their medication, and more; connect patients with social and health resources; provide ongoing follow-up and navigation services; facilitate rides for eligible patients through our fleet of transportation vehicles and rideshare partnership.

As of January 2026, our CHWs have:

• Interacted with 135,000+ patients
• Enrolled 96,000+ patients
• Connected 39,000+ patients with social and health resources

Watch a day in the life of a CHW

Food Farmacies

A “Food Farmacy” focuses on and promotes healthy, nutritious eating using a clinically-based approach. Registered dietitians meet with patients in a 1-1 counseling setting and provide recommendations for food choices that are available on-site based on their condition and cultural preferences.

Patients have access to locally-grown, sustainable foods; healthy shelf-stable foods; recipes; nutrition education handouts; and ongoing chronic disease management nutrition counseling. The goal of a “Food Farmacy” is to ensure food security and increase both clinical and behavioral change outcomes to improve patients’ health.

Harvest: An RWJBarnabas Health Farm to Community Center

A collaboration between RWJBarnabas Health and Newark-based farm-to-city social enterprise Urban Agriculture Cooperative (UAC), Harvest aims to tackle the pressing issue of food insecurity and improve overall health outcomes for residents living in the Greater Newark area – where many residents lack consistent access to affordable, nutritious food, especially fresh fruits and vegetables – and beyond.

Centrally located in the historic Hahne's Building in the heart of the Halsey Creative and Commercial Corridor in Downtown Newark, the space is designed to serve as a hub for community-driven initiatives to enhance access to fresh, healthy foods and comprehensive nutrition and wellness education, promoting overall health and well-being. Simultaneously, Harvest will support urban and rural Garden State growers, restauranteurs and other food business entrepreneurs, helping to strengthen the regional food economy.

This first-of-its-kind initiative takes an innovative, wholistic approach to addressing the root causes of food insecurity and diet-related chronic disease. Harvest features a farm-to-table food distribution center, commercial kitchen, healthy cooking education and demo spaces, as well as consultation, wellness and nutrition spaces – all under one roof.

Learn more about what Harvest will offer

Providing Transportation

Through RWJBarnabas Health’s fleet of transportation vehicles and rideshare partnership, we arrange cost-free transportation for clinical appointments, home discharges, food pantries, and more for eligible patients. To date, patients have used 157,000+ cost-free rides.

Supporting Federally Qualified Health Centers

We partner with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) across New Jersey to expand access to high-quality, community-based. In addition to strengthening clinics, we have co-opened FQHC locations in Newark, with plans to open two more in 2026 – bringing care closer to home for residents in the city’s most underserved neighborhoods.

• Essex County
• Saint James Health
• Newark Community Health Center
• Mary Eliza Mahoney Health Center
• Zufall Health
• Hudson County
• North Hudson
• Community Action Corporation
• Metropolitan Family Health Network
• Alliance Health Care
• Middlesex County
• Eric B. Chandler Health Center
• Monmouth County
• Monmouth Family Health Center
• Union County
• Neighborhood Health Services