The Maryland Health Care Commission reversed their decision and approved the expansion plans for our regional medical facilities. We have confirmed that the project will now proceed as originally proposed to ensure adequate bed capacity and behavioral health access. I am shifting my focus to monitoring the construction timeline to …
December 17, 2019
Final supporters
Dear Mr. Steffen:
We are dismayed to learn that the Maryland Health Care Commission has not approved UM UCH’s applications for: Certificate of Need for a Specialty Psychiatric Hospital, Certificate of Exemption for the conversion of UM HMH to a Free-Standing Medical Facility, and the expansion of the UM UCMC campus in Bel Air. We are equally troubled by the MHCC’s lack of support for an entire floor of hospital beds at UM UCMC and replacing it with inpatient behavioral beds; in essence eliminating the Special Psychiatric Hospital at Aberdeen.
This, we believe, puts our patients at risk in the following ways:
- We witness a growing number of patients across Harford County requiring behavioral health services; limiting these services just to the UM UCMC campus in Bel Air will leave patients in the Aberdeen/Havre de Grace areas vulnerable and strategically hamper any future growth at UM UCMC.
- Not supporting the proposed medical surgical and observation bed capacity needed will significantly hamper our ability to provide timely, lifesaving care. We regularly live with a back log of Emergency Department boarder patients. Any elimination of the proposed bed expansion in Bel Air will negatively impact the care delivery in our community.
- Time is of the essence as UM HMH continues to age and we are faced with increasingly severe physician recruitment and staffing challenges at the Havre de Grace facility. We simply are unable to continue to recruit the number of specialty physicians needed for this acute care facility.
We believe it’s our medical and ethical duty to alert you of the potential harm that could result from the Commission’s upcoming decisions. Please carefully review the data provided as a part of the applications. We are passionate about protecting the healthcare needs of our community and compel you to approve the proposal and applications as submitted by UM UCH leadership and as supported by the Board and the Medical Staff of UM UCH.
Sincerely,
Medical Staff, UM UCH
cc: Andrew N. Pollak MD, Chairman, Maryland Health Care Commission
Randolph S. Sergent, Vice-Chairman, Maryland Health Care Commission
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
October 31, 2019
Reached 100 supporters
October 31, 2019
October 29, 2019
We are approaching one hundred signatures and need to maintain this momentum to ensure our formal letter to the commission carries the necessary weight. Please direct three people to this page to finalize this initial target before we draft our next follow-up message.
73 Comments
As a healthcare employee, I see the need for these services on a daily basis. We are doing a great injustice to our Harford County community members if we do not approve these improvements to our healthcare system!
As a Harford County native, and a Clinical Psychologist, I strongly urge the MHCC to support the creation of the Special Psychiatric Hospital at Aberdeen, MD. The state of Mental health care in Harford County, much like the rest of the US, is best described as a Crisis, and should be managed as one.
Unacceptable! So a better option for someone who is in desperate need of psychiatric help is to spend days confined to a stretcher in an emergency department?! That’s therapeutic!
I have been a practicing primary care Internist in Harford County for 20 years. I have always found it difficult to access behavioral health for my patients and have had to trouble shoot for issues outside my comfort zone. Any reduction in the already too sparse behavioral health coverage is intolerable.
I have been a Physicain in Harford county for 28 years and the first president of the combined medical staff for Harford Memorial, Falston Hosp and upper Chesapeake. This is essential for the health and safety of our community.
WE have a great need for specialized care in Harford county. We have such a shortage of people available for mental health care. Please , people are dying everyday. We are located centrally between cecil and baltimore county. Perfect location!!
I fully support UM UCH’s plans for a specialty psychiatric hospital/freestanding medical facility in Aberdeen as well as expansion to our Bel Air campus. This is a much needed addition to provide acute health care to our Harford County citizens in need!
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The Maryland Health Care Commission reversed their decision and approved the expansion plans for our regional medical facilities. We have confirmed that the project will now proceed as originally proposed to ensure adequate bed capacity and behavioral health access. I am shifting my focus to monitoring the construction timeline to …
December 17, 2019
Final supporters
Dear Mr. Steffen:
We are dismayed to learn that the Maryland Health Care Commission has not approved UM UCH’s applications for: Certificate of Need for a Specialty Psychiatric Hospital, Certificate of Exemption for the conversion of UM HMH to a Free-Standing Medical Facility, and the expansion of the UM UCMC campus in Bel Air. We are equally troubled by the MHCC’s lack of support for an entire floor of hospital beds at UM UCMC and replacing it with inpatient behavioral beds; in essence eliminating the Special Psychiatric Hospital at Aberdeen.
This, we believe, puts our patients at risk in the following ways:
- We witness a growing number of patients across Harford County requiring behavioral health services; limiting these services just to the UM UCMC campus in Bel Air will leave patients in the Aberdeen/Havre de Grace areas vulnerable and strategically hamper any future growth at UM UCMC.
- Not supporting the proposed medical surgical and observation bed capacity needed will significantly hamper our ability to provide timely, lifesaving care. We regularly live with a back log of Emergency Department boarder patients. Any elimination of the proposed bed expansion in Bel Air will negatively impact the care delivery in our community.
- Time is of the essence as UM HMH continues to age and we are faced with increasingly severe physician recruitment and staffing challenges at the Havre de Grace facility. We simply are unable to continue to recruit the number of specialty physicians needed for this acute care facility.
We believe it’s our medical and ethical duty to alert you of the potential harm that could result from the Commission’s upcoming decisions. Please carefully review the data provided as a part of the applications. We are passionate about protecting the healthcare needs of our community and compel you to approve the proposal and applications as submitted by UM UCH leadership and as supported by the Board and the Medical Staff of UM UCH.
Sincerely,
Medical Staff, UM UCH
cc: Andrew N. Pollak MD, Chairman, Maryland Health Care Commission
Randolph S. Sergent, Vice-Chairman, Maryland Health Care Commission
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
October 31, 2019
Reached 100 supporters
October 31, 2019
October 29, 2019
We are approaching one hundred signatures and need to maintain this momentum to ensure our formal letter to the commission carries the necessary weight. Please direct three people to this page to finalize this initial target before we draft our next follow-up message.
73 Comments
Many patients in our county rely on our psychiatric services and presently many are at a disservice due to prolonged stays in the Emergency Department while awaiting a bed, thus preventing them for getting up front treatment. We need more beds for our growing population.
As a healthcare employee, I see the need for these services on a daily basis. We are doing a great injustice to our Harford County community members if we do not approve these improvements to our healthcare system!
As a Harford County native, and a Clinical Psychologist, I strongly urge the MHCC to support the creation of the Special Psychiatric Hospital at Aberdeen, MD. The state of Mental health care in Harford County, much like the rest of the US, is best described as a Crisis, and should be managed as one.
Unacceptable! So a better option for someone who is in desperate need of psychiatric help is to spend days confined to a stretcher in an emergency department?! That’s therapeutic!
I have been a practicing primary care Internist in Harford County for 20 years. I have always found it difficult to access behavioral health for my patients and have had to trouble shoot for issues outside my comfort zone. Any reduction in the already too sparse behavioral health coverage is intolerable.
I have been a Physicain in Harford county for 28 years and the first president of the combined medical staff for Harford Memorial, Falston Hosp and upper Chesapeake. This is essential for the health and safety of our community.
WE have a great need for specialized care in Harford county. We have such a shortage of people available for mental health care. Please , people are dying everyday. We are located centrally between cecil and baltimore county. Perfect location!!
I fully support UM UCH’s plans for a specialty psychiatric hospital/freestanding medical facility in Aberdeen as well as expansion to our Bel Air campus. This is a much needed addition to provide acute health care to our Harford County citizens in need!
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Many patients in our county rely on our psychiatric services and presently many are at a disservice due to prolonged stays in the Emergency Department while awaiting a bed, thus preventing them for getting up front treatment. We need more beds for our growing population.