THE MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 21401-1991
January 13,2011
Dr. Rex Cowdry
Executive Director
Maryland Health Care Commission
4160 Patterson Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21215
Dear Dr. Cowdry:
It is our understanding that the Maryland Health Care Commission will decide on whether to approve a Certificate of Need for Adventist HealthCare’s proposal to develop a hospital in Clarksburg or Holy Cross’s proposal in Germantown. We are writing this letter jointly to state our unequivocal support for Adventist HealthCare’s proposal to develop a hospital in Clarksburg to serve residents in the growing 1-270 corridor of upper Montgomery County and lower Frederick County. We represent constituents throughout upper Montgomery County along the 1-270 corridor, including Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Clarksburg, and to the Montgomery-Frederick County border.
A recommendation issued to the full Maryland Health Care Commission last month supported an alternative proposal by Holy Cross to develop a hospital on public land (Montgomery College) in Germantown. However, we continue to urge, as we have done in the past, support for Adventist HealthCare’s proposal for a comprehensive medical campus and hospital along 1-270 in Clarksburg to meet the future health care needs of Montgomery County residents.
We wish to note several specific points in this letter.
First, we are concerned about the impact the proposed Holy Cross Germantown hospital would have on existing health care services in the region, including the Germantown Emergency Center, which is located approximately a mile from the proposed Holy Cross Hospital, and services provided at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.
Many of us were instrumental in the development of the Germantown Emergency Center (operated by Adventist HealthCare) and continue to strongly support the facility. The Germantown Emergency Center is an important part of the health care infrastructure, has dramatically reduced volume at local hospital emergency departments in a way that urgent care centers have been unable to do, and enjoys widespread support in the community given its reduced wait times and high level of service. The dismissive characterization in the recommendation of the Germantown Emergency Center is inconsistent with our experience or that of our constituents.
In addition, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in the Gaithersburg/Rockville area and its important health care services, including those in Germantown, will be negatively impacted by the Holy Cross project. Many people may not realize that in addition to the Germantown Emergency Center, the Shady Grove Adventist Germantown campus includes a primary care clinic for uninsured residents, a prenatal clinic for low-income women, outpatient radiology services and physician offices.
We want to ensure that the placement of health care services occurs in a manner that enhances access and avoids duplication by ensuring health care services are complementary to existing infrastructure. Challenges to the mission of hospitals to meet community need are occurring at a time when inpatient utilization and emergency visits have declined in Maryland as a result of the economic downturn. Duplication of health services will only make this situation worse, especially at a time when Federal health care reform aims to move patients to non-acute services.
Second, and related to the issue of impact, we believe the recommendation has not fully considered the important community services offered by Adventist HealthCare, which in the most recent State report provided more than $62 million in community benefit and routinely provides high levels of charity care among its acute care hospitals as reported by the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC). Many other important community services are also provided by other entities of Adventist HealthCare. Its community services and community involvement are exemplary. We note that well over $400 million in capital projects (the Germantown project and a major expansion in Silver Spring) is being recommended for approval for Holy Cross. These two major capital initiatives would negatively impact both the Germantown Emergency Center and Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, services offered by Adventist HealthCare.
Third, we believe due consideration should be given to Montgomery County’s planning process, which highlights priority areas of population growth, land use matters and development in the County. The proposed Clarksburg hospital and medical campus is the only upper Montgomery County hospital project to have gone through Montgomery County’s extensive and thorough planning process, receiving all major environmental and land use approvals. Any evaluation of critical infrastructure such as a hospital must take these issues into serious consideration.
Fourth, it is important that any future hospital in Montgomery County, particularly if the hospital is built on public land, provides a full array of health care services for all of our constituents. In sum, we strongly support the Adventist HealthCare proposal for developing a hospital in Clarksburg.
Sincerely,
Rob Garagiola, State Senator – District 15
Jennie M. Forehand, State Senator – District 17
Nancy J. King, State Senator – District 39
Charles E. Barkley, Delegate – District 39
Kumar P. Barve, Delegate – District 17
Kathleen M. Dumais, Delegate – District 15
Brian J. Feldman, Delegate – District 15
James W. Gilchrist, Delegate – District 17
Aruna Miller, Delegate – District 15
Kirill Reznik, Delegate – District 39
A. Shane Robinson, Delegate – District 39
Luis R. S. Simmons, Delegate – District 17
Click letter to download PDF.
Tags: clarksburg hospital, germantown, holy cross, legislators, maryland, mhcc, support
