Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset is a 343-bed RWJBarnabas Health hospital founded in 1899 that has earned Magnet recognition for nursing excellence four times, held an “A” safety grade from The Leapfrog Group 16 times, and was honored as one of “America’s 250 Best Hospitals” by Healthgrades in 2025, placing it in the top 5% of hospitals nationwide for overall clinical performance for the third consecutive year. The hospital earned the prestigious health equity accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the first hospital in the state and only the fourth hospital or health system in the country to receive this recognition. It was also designated as a “Leader in LGBTQ Health Care Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign for its Babs Siperstein PROUD Center, the first in New Jersey to offer specialized primary care for LGBTQ+ adults when it opened in 2016. The hospital completed a 76,000-square-foot two-story vertical expansion in late 2024, the largest construction project on campus in nearly two decades, and opened the top floor in February 2025 with 45 all-private rooms. In 2025, the hospital opened the Kalafer Family Rapid Decision Unit, an 18-bed unit for patients requiring further evaluation before admission, named in honor of a family that has donated $3.5 million over two decades. The hospital provided more than $2 million in community benefits in 2025, including 48 support groups, 54 health screenings reaching 53,000 individuals, and distribution of nearly 500 chickens and turkeys to food pantries at Thanksgiving. Its “Healing Homes” initiative provides transitional housing for local individuals or families whose illness caused financial hardship and housing instability.
