AGREEMENT ASSURES MORE HEALTH SERVICES AVAILABLE IN QAC
The Queen Anne’s County Commissioners are very pleased that the University of Maryland Medical System and Shore Health System (“Shore Health”) have agreed to guarantee 24/7 operation of the Emergency Center at Nesbit Road until at least March, 2023- three years more than the present guarantee- and to open an outpatient surgery center at that site by the end of this year. The surgery center will have three procedure rooms and a surgery suite available for procedures including cataract removal, hernia repair, colonoscopy, and knee arthroscopy. An amendment to a March 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the county and Shore Health evidences the agreement.
The original MOU envisioned seeking approval for a two-surgery suite facility, which is a more complicated undertaking than seeking approval for the single surgery suite. In the best-case scenario, that two-suite facility would not be operational until March 2016. If approval was not given, there was no obligation for a single suite facility until March 2017. The County Commissioners felt getting the outpatient facility faster and by the end of year would be a great benefit to county residents, particularly since the agreement provides that the surgery center “…shall be staffed on a sufficient schedule to … accommodate the needs of Queen Anne’s County residents for outpatient surgical services.”
The amended MOU requires Shore Health to seek approval for a two-surgery suite facility by December 2016. By then, the anticipated success of the single-surgery suite facility will assure that approval. Transition to the two-surgery suite facility will be seamless, since the amended MOU requires the single-suite facility to be designed to accommodate the planned-for second surgery suite.
“The County Commissioners and the General Assembly Delegation have been engaged for several years now in this effort to partner with Shore Health, so that Queen Anne’s County residents enjoy better access to health care,” said County Commission President Phil Dumenil. “Soon, through Shore Health, these agreements assure county residents better access to senior care, dialysis, and surgical procedures.”
Senator Steve Hershey noted his satisfaction with the County Commissioners and the county’s General Assembly representatives forcibly advocating in a coordinated manner to bring better health care to the county. “I participated in this effort at first as a Delegate and am thrilled to continue in the effort as a Senator. We should not forget that both MOU’s envision continued planning for Shore Health to bring even more services to the county. This makes sense as the county is where the growth in Shore Health’s service area is projected to be.”
“Like Senator Hershey, I was involved in the negotiations with Shore Health from the beginning as the County Commission President,” added now Delegate Steve Arentz, “With this last round coming together just as I was transitioning to becoming a Delegate. Access to health care locally is an unmet need in our county. Senator Hershey and I will continue to work with our County Commissioner partners to address this need.”