A new 36,000-square-foot health complex has opened along Freehold's busy Route 9 corridor, bringing primary care, imaging, lab work, and a long list of specialty services under one roof at Juniper Plaza. Hackensack Meridian Health's seventh Health & Wellness Center in New Jersey is now up and running at 3499 Route 9 North, giving Monmouth County residents a consolidated option for everything from mammograms to physical therapy without a trip to a hospital campus.
The Freehold site follows Hackensack Meridian Health's renewal and expansion of its lease at Juniper Plaza in 2024, according to NJBIZ, which reported that the expanded footprint brought additional primary, specialty, and outpatient services under one roof. Hackensack Meridian Health Chief Executive Officer Robert Garrett spoke at an August 27 ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the center's debut. The facility will soon add mammograms through its imaging services, along with an on-site laboratory for blood work and urinalysis.
Beyond primary care, the center's service list includes obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, general and vascular surgery, endocrinology, rheumatology, behavioral health, and chiropractic medicine. Imaging services will also cover X-rays, ultrasounds, and bone density tests, while rehabilitation offerings include physical, occupational, and speech therapy — the latter directly affiliated with Jersey Shore University Medical Center and including specialized certifications for Parkinson's disease care, per Hackensack Meridian Health.
A Direct Line to the Hospital System When Needed
Hackensack Meridian Health Chief Physician Executive and Physician Services Division President Daniel Varga said ambulatory care is an essential part of a connected, integrated health system, per the NJBIZ report. The network relies on the same electronic health record system across its hospitals and outpatient sites, giving in-network medical teams access to patient information at every point of care and letting them coordinate a patient's transition to a hospital when higher-level care is needed.
That escalation path leads roughly 15 miles east to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune Township, a 691-bed academic facility that operates the only Level I Adult and Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers in Monmouth and Ocean counties, according to Wikipedia. Hackensack Meridian Health Chief Operating Officer Mark Sparta said more than 90% of adults admit to delaying or skipping routine checkups and screenings every year, framing expanded access to care as essential to closing that gap.
Freehold Becomes the Latest Battleground in Suburban Healthcare
The new center lands just a few miles from Atlantic Health System's CentraState Medical Center campus in Freehold Township, where Atlantic Health acquired a 51% controlling co-ownership stake and committed $135 million in capital investments back in December 2021. By consolidating so many services in one Route 9 location, Hackensack Meridian Health is positioning itself as a direct competitor for the same suburban patient base CentraState has long served on West Main Street.
Michael Geiger, Hackensack Meridian's Senior Vice President of Ambulatory Care and Network Development, said Freehold represents the latest step in the health system's expansion of convenient, comprehensive care across New Jersey, according to the NJBIZ report. That expansion has moved fast: Hackensack Meridian Health opened its first Health & Wellness Center in Eatontown in 2022, brought the concept to Clark in 2023, then expanded its ambulatory model to a $30 million facility in Paramus and a $79 million site in Clifton. West Milford got its own center too, and in April 2026 the network opened a $200 million, 60,000-square-foot healthcare hub inside NJ Transit's Metropark station in Woodbridge, a facility built to serve tens of thousands of commuters passing through the station each day. Hackensack Meridian Health has not disclosed the investment amount for the Freehold and West Milford centers.
Part of a Statewide Shift Away From Hospital Beds
The Freehold opening tracks with a broader realignment of New Jersey's healthcare workforce. Ambulatory care grew from 35% of the state's total healthcare jobs in 1990 to 51% by 2023, while hospital employment fell from 47% to 32% over the same period, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Nationally, the American Hospital Association and Vizient project outpatient care volumes will expand by up to 20% over the next decade through 2036, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects ambulatory healthcare employment will grow 12.2% from 2024 to 2034, far outpacing the 3.9% growth rate forecast for inpatient hospital staffing.
According to the New Jersey Department of Health, the state licenses more than 2,000 regulated facilities statewide, including ambulatory care centers.
Formed through a 2016 merger between Hackensack University Health Network and Meridian Health, Hackensack Meridian Health has grown into New Jersey's largest healthcare provider, operating 18 hospitals and more than 500 outpatient locations with $8.8 billion in annual revenue as of 2024, according to ProPublica. The system's flagship, Hackensack University Medical Center, became the first hospital in New Jersey named to U.S. News & World Report's Top 20 national Best Hospitals Honor Roll in Hoodline's July 2025 coverage — a brand credential now feeding into the network's growing web of suburban clinics like the one just opened in Freehold.
