Hackensack University Medical Center, founded in 1888, was the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation to earn Magnet recognition for nursing excellence, and it now holds its seventh consecutive Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. In 2025, U.S. News & World Report made the medical center the first hospital in the state to be listed among the nation’s top 20 hospitals. For 2026-27, the hospital was named No. 1 in the state, while the medical center once again secured an “A” hospital safety grade from The Leapfrog Group. The medical center’s research portfolio spans precision medicine, translational medicine, immunotherapy, cell therapy and vaccine development, supporting an academic medical center that also trains residents through the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine’s three-year program. The hospital’s hospital-at-home program helps prevent readmissions and unnecessary emergency room visits. Recent clinical innovations include the Medtronic PulseSelect Pulsed Field Ablation System for atrial fibrillation, the Symplicity Spyral renal denervation system for treatment-resistant high blood pressure, and an extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation program for patients in cardiac arrest. Hackensack Meridian John Theurer Cancer Center, based at the medical center, became the first in the state to install the RefleXion X1 machine with SCINTIX biology-guided radiotherapy, a new treatment option for patients with lung and bone tumors.
