The University of Maryland Medical System’s board of directors approved a plan by the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health for a new campus to become a health care hub along the Eastern shore. The 230-acre medical campus under consideration is expected to include a 325,000 square foot hospital in Easton meant to serve five nearby counties. The board approved a letter of intent but a final decision won’t be made unless the hospital system can make the case to a state board that there’s sufficient need in the community which spans 2,000 square miles.
It would be the largest medical center in the region near the intersection of Longwoods Road and Route 50.
Officials from the University of Maryland Medical System are scheduled to present the plan to the Maryland Health Care Commission in January 2023. If approved by the state, the Easton Regional Medical Center would be built by mid-2028.
The University of Maryland Shore Regional Health doesn’t have an estimate about cost and the number of beds the hospital would have until it shares plans with the state next year. Hospitals of similar size and scope cost roughly $230 million to build with hundreds of inpatient beds.
The proposed campus would include 60,000 square feet of medical offices for outpatient services. There are already university affiliated medical facilities in Dorchester, Talbot, Queen Anne’s, Caroline and Kent counties.
“When you come to the Easton Regional Medical Center, you'll get that high level inpatient care in areas like obstetrics where you will deliver your baby in the hospital, or if you've got a stroke or have cardiology issues,” said Ken Kozel, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health.
Kozel said the campus is about 3.5 miles from the current hospital and the goal is to provide safer ambulance and helicopter transportation. It was not immediately clear what the plans for the existing hospital might be.
The medical center is part of a larger overhaul of medical facilities in the mid-shore region. Over the past decade, University of Maryland Shore Regional Health has updated and built smaller health offices to provide care to the rural communities.
That includes building medical offices in Queen Anne’s County, and primary care and diagnostic testing services in Denton. The goal is to offer more access to specialists which doesn’t always mean driving to the hospital in person.
“We are using telemedicine capabilities, so our community does not necessarily have to leave their homes to get a primary care visit,” Kozel said. “We have physicians centrally located that can meet the patients in their homes through telemedicine capabilities. And we're expanding those services to include specialty services as well, and even home-based care with the use of telemedicine.”
