News Release
June 12, 2006
University of Maryland Medical System, The Johns Hopkins Health System, Announce Agreement To Share Ownership of Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital
BALTIMORE, MD (June 12, 2006) – In an unprecedented collaboration, Maryland’s two academic medical systems have agreed to share ownership of Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, the Baltimore-based specialty care and rehabilitation hospital for infants and children with complex medical needs. The agreement by University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and The Johns Hopkins Health System to each share a 50% interest has been approved by the boards of directors of each institution.
Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital (MWPH) is now wholly owned by Baltimore Washington Medical Center, formerly North Arundel Hospital, which in turn is wholly owned by UMMS. The agreement will become effective July 1, 2006. The pediatric hospital, which was founded in 1922, provides inpatient, outpatient, transitional, chronic and post-surgical care and day treatment programs and is licensed for 56 pediatric specialty beds and 46 rehabilitation beds. MWPH serves children locally, nationally and internationally.
“Our goal is to take rehabilitation and transitional care for children in Maryland to the next level,” said Edmond F. Notebaert, President and Chief Executive Officer of UMMS. “As former President and Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, I’ve seen extraordinary things happen when the finest health care professionals are brought together to focus on the needs of children. By uniting the remarkable talents of Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland in service to children, we strengthen Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital and create new opportunities to improve care and expand programs. This, in turn, will allow Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital to strengthen its position as a leader in the provision of rehabilitation and transitional care for children.”
Ronald R. Peterson, President, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and Executive Vice President, Johns Hopkins Medicine, also noted the significance of the two institutions partnering. “In the increasingly competitive world of health care delivery, this venture represents a wonderful example of an important collaborative relationship Hopkins will enjoy with the University of Maryland Medical System,” he said. “It is a collaboration that will greatly benefit our community and many of the youngest, most vulnerable patients in that community. We look forward to further building on our relationship with the University of Maryland Medical System and the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital to improve the health of chronically ill children.”
The medical chairs of the pediatric departments at University of Maryland School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine also see opportunity for enhanced pediatric care resulting from the new partnership.
“Those of us who care for children with serious health needs are always concerned about the wellbeing of our patients once they leave our acute care setting. We are fortunate to have Mt.Washington Pediatric Hospital as an excellent resource for our pediatric patients once they are discharged from the University of Maryland Hospital for Children,” says Steven J. Czinn, M.D., Chairman of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and head of the University of Maryland Hospital for Children. “This partnership will assure the strength of that resource for years to come.”
“The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center has had a longstanding relationship with the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in sharing the medical management of that institution with the University of Maryland Medical System,” said George J. Dover, M.D., Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “This new relationship further formalizes our historic role with the hospital and will further help us improve and better coordinate care for our sick pediatric patients requiring intensive care in an appropriate setting before they can return home.”
For many years, both UMMS and Hopkins have admitted patients to MWPH for rehabilitation and transitional care, as have other hospitals in the region, and that will continue. The agreement is expected to ensure that the two major medical facilities, both of which operate major children’s hospitals focusing on tertiary and complex acute care, can provide the continuum of care their pediatric patients require.
“This partnership between University of Maryland Medical System and The Johns Hopkins Health System is a giant advance for the children who need our care,” said Sheldon J. Stein, President and Chief Executive Officer of the pediatric hospital, which was established more than 80 years ago when a medical social worker named Hortense Kahn Eliasberg opened a home where children could recuperate from illness and surgery. “Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital has evolved to become exceptionally skilled and successful in helping children and their families transition from acute illness or rehabilitation back to their lives, their communities and their schools,” Stein said.
Once the agreement is completed, the board of MWPH will consist of representatives from the community and the institutions, with half appointed by UMMS and half by The Johns Hopkins Health System. The change is not expected to have any major impact on programs or operations.
About Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital
Founded in 1922, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital is a 102-bed pediatric and rehabilitation hospital located in northwest Baltimore offering highly individualized, flexible, family-centered care for children with complex medical and rehabilitation needs. The hospital offers on-site educational instruction through the Baltimore City School System. The hospital is one of the few outpatient centers in the Mid-Atlantic area for children with asthma and other respiratory illnesses, operates the largest sleep disorder program for children in the region, is one of the few treatment programs regionally for children with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and recently introduced an innovative program to help obese children with weight management.
About University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System is a six-hospital system with academic, community and specialty service missions reaching every part of Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. The Medical System has 11,000 employees, more than 1,600 licensed beds and revenues of $1.5 billion. The six hospitals that make up the Medical System are:
- University of Maryland Medical Center, an innovative teaching hospital in
downtown Baltimore, provides a full range of health care services. It is a
referral center for the most serious and complicated health problems in adults
and children. The medical center includes the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum
Cancer Center, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and the University of
Maryland Hospital for Children.
- Baltimore Washington Medical Center, an acute care community hospital located
in Anne Arundel County that serves patients from throughout the Baltimore/Washington
corridor.
- Maryland General Hospital, an urban teaching hospital that provides comprehensive
and accessible community health care for residents of Midtown and West Baltimore.
- Kernan Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital, located in Woodlawn, is
the state's largest rehabilitation and orthopaedic hospital serving both adults
and children. It also houses the University of Maryland Complementary Medicine
Program.
- University Specialty Hospital, a chronic care hospital located in downtown
Baltimore that focuses on the complex needs of chronically ill patients.
- Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, a pediatric and rehabilitation hospital located in northwest Baltimore that provides specialty medical care to infants and children with complex medical needs.
Effective July 1, 2006, the University of Maryland Medical System will expand to include Shore Health System of Easton, MD, the leading provider of health care to five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Shore Health System includes Dorchester General Hospital in Cambridge, the Memorial Hospital at Easton, and a range of outpatient diagnostic and treatment facilities.
About The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation
The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation (JHHS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the highest quality patient health care in the treatment and prevention of human illness. JHHS is an academically based health system consisting of:
- The Johns Hopkins Hospital, a world-renowned academic medical center that
provides a comprehensive range of state-of-the-art tertiary and quaternary
care and is consistently recognized as one of America’s best hospitals.
- Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Inc., a not-for-profit organization
that operates a community-based teaching hospital offering a broad range of
inpatient and outpatient services as well as long-term care facility.
- Howard County General Hospital, a not-for-profit, community-oriented medical
center offering a full range of acute care inpatient services as well as extensive
outpatient services.
- Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, the largest primary care group practice
in the State of Maryland which includes a not-for-profit network of 15 health
care centers throughout the State of Maryland.
- The Johns Hopkins Medical Services Corporation, the not-for-profit corporation
that contracts with the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan contract to
provide and manage care for military retirees and active duty family members.
- Johns Hopkins Medical Management Corporation, the healthcare management and services organization that develops, organizes and manages a regional patient delivery system to serve Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine physicians and JHHS hospitals.
JHHS’ most important collaboration is with The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This collaboration is known as “Johns Hopkins Medicine”, a vehicle for internal operational coordination and a united voice for external initiatives. Johns Hopkins Medicine allows these two distinct yet interdependent organizations to respond in an integrated fashion to opportunities and pressures affecting the Johns Hopkins medical enterprise. Two important operational entities of Johns Hopkins Medicine are Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC and The Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Inc.
- Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC, an organization owned 50% by JHHS and 50%
by The Johns Hopkins University (“JHU”), develops and manages
contractual relationships with managed care organizations, employers, hospitals,
physicians, and other health care providers.
- Priority Partners Managed Care Organization, Inc., an organization owned
50% by JHHC and 50% by the Maryland Community Health System, operates as an
authorized managed care organization and serves Medicaid enrollees in Baltimore
City and throughout the State.
- The Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Inc. is a not-for-profit Maryland corporation owned 50% by JHHS and 50% by JHU and is made up of three combined companies: Johns Hopkins Home Health Services, Inc., Johns Hopkins Pharmaquip, Inc., and Johns Hopkins Pediatrics at Home, Inc. Through these entities, JHHCG offers home health services such as visits by nurses, home health aides, social workers, and physical, occupational, and speech therapists; durable medical and respiratory equipment and supplies, and home infusion therapy and pharmaceuticals; and outpatient discharge pharmacy services on the JHH and JHBMC campuses.
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For more than 80 years, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital has provided inpatient and outpatient care for infants and children with rehabilitation and other complex medical needs. The hospital is an affiliate of North Arundel Health System, Inc and part of the University of Maryland Medical System.