In the near future, Shioleno plans to increase his staff from seven doctors to 10. A new Bridgewater location is also slated to open by the end of the year, joining the existing Mendham headquarters and offices in Summit, Clinton, Morristown, and a second Mendham facility in the Jockey Hollow area.
All in all, Morris County Cardiology provides cardiology services to more than 20,000 patients in Hunterdon, Warren, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Union counties.
As Shioleno explained to Assemblymen Michael Carroll and Richard Merkt during a recent tour as part of NJBIA's Site Visit Program, the key is to provide virtually all services in-house.
"We don't farm anything out," Shioleno said. "We don't have anyone else doing our dictation or our billing. No one is going to take care of your place like your people."
For example, Morris County Cardiology has its own blood laboratory, which allows doctors to get results quickly. Shioleno said the practice's policy is to communicate with the referring physician within 24 hours of seeing the patient.
Another important policy is consistency. Vice President of Operations Evelyn Grabinski said Morris County Cardiology makes sure that patients do not get passed from one doctor to the next.
"A well-trained clinical staff is key," Grabinski said. "It's important that the patient here is seen by the same doctors as he or she sees in the hospital."
The Mendham headquarters, located in the historic Murphy house (former Governor Ogden Murphy's summer home in the early 20th century), provides a variety of stress testing, image scanning, blood work and preventive medicine services at its 10,000 square-foot facility.
About 80 percent of the practice is devoted to preventative medicine conducted at one of the practice's facilities, the other 20 percent to surgery and hospital visits.
At most Site Visits, business owners bring issues to the attention of legislators. At the Morris County Cardiology site visit, however, it was Assemblyman Merkt who wanted Shioleno's input on the cost of medical malpractice insurance. Merkt said his office is getting a lot of complaints about soaring malpractice insurance premiums.
Shioleno said his practice has not seen any sharp increases in malpractice premiums because it has a long-term insurance contract. But as an expert witness, Shioleno has observed a dramatic increase in malpractice litigation over the last several years.
"What's going on in the litigation side of it is out of control," he said.
NJBIA's Site Visit Program is designed to educate legislators about businesses in their district and the legislative issues that impact them. If you are interested in hosting a site visit at your business, contact Libby Vinson at ext. 201 or lvinson@njbia.org.
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