March 25, 2014
Pennington, NJ – The New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute today announced that its Board of Directors has voted unanimously to invite former Congressman Rob Andrews to join the Board. Congressman Andrews has accepted the invitation.
“As one of the primary authors in Congress of the Affordable Care Act, Congressman Andrews will add a depth of knowledge and expertise to the Institute that should prove to be invaluable as we enter a new era of greater accessibility and transparency in health care,” said David L. Knowlton, President and CEO of the Quality Institute. “Our Board is truly a panel of experts and we are thrilled to be the first health care group in New Jersey to add such a prestigious and enlightened voice to our efforts.”
In February, Congressman Andrews announced that he was resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives where he served since 1990 to lead the Government Relations practice for Dilworth Paxson LLP in Washington, D.C., New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“Health policy is my passion,” said Andrews. “I was able to practice that fervor in a very practical and meaningful way in the House and am proud of what we have accomplished to improve the lives of so many through greater affordability and access. The Quality Institute is recognized not just in New Jersey, but nationally, as one of the leading thinkers on innovative health care policy today and I could not be more pleased that they have asked me to join their impressive board.”
Congressman Andrews represented the First Congressional District of New Jersey, which includes parts of Camden, Gloucester and Burlington Counties. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Andrews served as a member of the Democratic Leadership in his capacity as co- Chairman of the Steering and Policy Committee. He served on the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, where he was its Ranking Member and former Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, a position he held during the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. He formerly served on the Budget Committee. Through his work on the committees, Congressman Andrews became known as a leading voice on issues surrounding health care, workplace, education, budget, and national defense.
Congressman Andrews graduated summa cum laude from Bucknell University, where he also was Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from Cornell University, and was selected for the Board of Editors of the Cornell Law Review. Before being elected to Congress, he was an attorney and an adjunct professor at the Rutgers University School of Law. He also served as freeholder director of Camden County, the highest elected office in county government.
Congressman Andrews resides in Haddon Heights, New Jersey with his wife, Rutgers Law
Associate Dean Camille Andrews, and their two daughters, Jackie and Josie.
Those serving on the Quality Institute’s Board of Directors include: Former Governor of New Jersey James J. Florio; former New Jersey Commissioner of Health and Senior Services Dr. Fred Jacobs; former New Jersey Commissioner of Health and Senior Services Heather Howard, Director, State Health Reform Assistance Network, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; Andrea Aughenbaugh, CEO of the New Jersey State Nurses Association (retired); George Laufenberg, Administrator, New Jersey Carpenters Fund; Len Leto, NJ State Health Benefits Program (retired); Lou Marturana, (retired) Public Service Electric & Gas; Dr. Suzanne M. Miller, Director, Behavioral Center of Excellence in Breast Cancer, Fox Chase Cancer Center; Judith Persichilli, R.N., Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Health East; Dr. Michael Sedrish, Medical Director, MediSys Management; Christine A. Stearns, Vice President, Health & Legal Affairs, New Jersey Business & Industry Association; and David L. Knowlton, former Deputy Commissioner, NJ Department of Health, President & CEO, New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute.
About the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute
The New Jersey Health Care Quality is a non-profit foundation founded in 1997. Its purpose is to undertake projects that will ensure that quality, accountability and cost containment are all closely linked to the delivery of health care services in New Jersey. The Quality Institute fosters collaboration amongst all stakeholders in the State’s health care delivery system so that purchasers and health care consumers more fully realize the benefits of the linkage between quality, accountability and cost containment. The Quality Institute seeks to empower health care purchasers and consumers by publishing the results of objective research, comparative data on providers, and other pertinent educational information so that purchasers and consumers may adopt value-based purchasing practices and be able to make informed decisions on the merits of various health care programs, treatments and services. The Quality Institute was designated as the lead agency in New Jersey for the national Leapfrog Group effort in April 2002. For more information please visit www.njhcqi.org.