Hackensack Meridian Health Medical Group-Specialty Care PC

“Core form, part iii; question 1 to serve as the physician services component of a tax-exempt integrated healthcare delivery network & to thereby promote, support & further the charitable purposes, programs & services of hmh hospitals corporation; a related internal revenue code section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization which provides medically necessary healthcare services to all individuals in a non-discriminatory manner regardless of race, color, creed, sex, national origin or ability to pay.”

“Hmh hospitals corporation is the sole member of this organization which exists through a physician nominee agreement due to state of new jersey corporate practice of medicine prohibitions. Hmh hospitals corporation has the ultimate authority and right to elect the members of this organization's board of trustees and has certain reserved powers as defined in this organization's bylaws.”

“See response to part vi, question 6 above.”

“See response to part vi, question 6 above.”

“The organization's board of trustees does not have any committees. If it did have committees, the members would document the meetings held with minutes.”

“This organization is a subsidiary of hackensack meridian health, inc. ("hmh"); a tax-exempt integrated healthcare delivery network. Hmh's finance personnel prepared and reviewed the federal form 990, which was then reviewed by other appropriate internal staff for accuracy. Hmh's board of trustees designated the audit and compliance committee ("acc") to review the form 990 of hmh's subsidiaries. The form 990 was provided to the members of the acc for review. The form 990 was also provided to each voting member of hmh's governing body, its board of trustees, prior to filing with the internal revenue service. The hmh board of trustees has the final governing authority over the subsidiaries of hmh.”

“Hackensack meridian health, inc., the tax-exempt parent organization of hackensack meridian health, a tax-exempt integrated health care delivery network, has adopted a network-wide conflict of interest policy which is applicable to all of its subsidiary organizations. The organizations regularly monitor and enforce compliance with the network's conflict of interest policy. Annually, all members of the board of trustees, officers and key employees of each organization are required to review the existing conflict of interest policy and complete a questionnaire with respect to any applicable transactions and relationships. The completed questionnaires are returned to the network's chief compliance officer for review. The chief compliance then prepares a summary of the completed questionnaires, and presents the summary to the network's governance and board development committee for its review, discussion and action (if needed). Any trustee, officer or key employee with a disclosed conflict would recuse themselves from participating in the governing body's deliberations and decisions of a transaction in question. During the year, the chief compliance officer in conjunction with the general counsel also monitors on-going transactions in light of the summary to ensure that any potential conflicts of interest are appropriately handled in compliance with the policy.”

“Reasonable compensation is determined by 1) a review of the physician's background and experience, including education, professional and administrative qualifications, research projects, publications, and community activities; 2) assigned responsibilities and administrative and clinical work volumes including off-hours on-call coverage; and 3) market demand for the physicians in the particular specialty. Then, a comparison of physician compensation to national benchmarks for physicians in similar positions is done. Compensation is benchmarked with widely used industry standards and surveys, including those published by medical group management association and sullivan cotter and associates. The physician's position and proposed compensation, the comparability data relating to his or her medical specialty, opinions from compensation consultants, if indicated, and any other information deemed relevant for all new physicians and for changes in compensation for existing physicians are reviewed by a committee of hackensack meridian health, inc., to confirm fair market value and commercial reasonableness. If a physician's recommended annual total cash compensation falls at or above the 90th percentile on the benchmark review or is $1,000,000 or more, an additional level of review is completed by the executive and physician compensation committee (epcc) of the board of trustees of hackensack meridian health to determine what, if any, additional factors may justify a higher salary, such as an individual's clinical productivity as measured by work relative value units, as well as qualitative factors specific to the candidate and the market conditions. Prior to review by the epcc, sullivan cotter and associates, inc., a professional compensation consultant, is engaged to provide a valuation opinion to assist the epcc in its assessment and detemination of compensation. Thus, the exempt entity, hackensack meridian health, inc., controls the compensation paid to physicians pursuant to this process.”

“See response to part vi, question 15a above.”

“The organization's filed certificate of incorporation and any amendments can be obtained and reviewed through the state of new jersey department of the treasury.”

“Core form, part vii, section a the organization is an affiliate within hackensack meridian health; a tax-exempt integrated healthcare delivery network ("network"), which includes hmh hospitals corporation. The network includes both for-profit and not-for profit organizations. This organization's voting members, james clarke, m.d. And michael lospinuso m.d., listed on core form, part vii and schedule j of this form 990 are the president and vice president, respectively, of hackensack university medical group, employed by hackensack meridian health and nominee owners of this organization due to corporate practice of medicine prohibitions. The hours reflected in core form, part vii of this form 990 for james clarke, m.d. And michael lospinuso m.d. Represent the estimated hours devoted per week on behalf of the network; not solely this organization.”

“Part vii and schedule j reflect officers receiving compensation and benefits from a related organization. Please note this remuneration was for services rendered as a full-time employee of the related organization and not for services rendered as a voting member or officer of this organization's board of directors.”

“Pricewaterhouse coopers, l.l.p. Audited the consolidated financial statements of hackensack meridian health, inc. For the years ended december 31, 2020 and 2019, including this organization. Pricewaterhouse coopers, l.l.p. Issued an unqualified opinion with respect to the audited consolidated financial statements. The hackensack meridian health, inc. Audit and compliance committee has assumed responsibility for the oversight of the audit of the consolidated financial statements, which includes this organization, and the selection of an independent auditor.”