Shore Regional Health CEO Ken Kozel presented Monday’s town council with a Strategic Service Delivery Plan for Chestertown Hospital based on 18 months of study and approved by the Board of Directors at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health. The plan becomes part of the Shore Regional Health Strategic Plan for the next five years.
The plan will maintain inpatient beds until further evaluations are made in 2022. It also calls for maintaining and enhancing primary care services with focuses on transportation issues and physician recruitment.
The plan also includes an application to the Maryland Health Care Commission for the approval Easton’s new hospital to be built to specifically meet the needs of Talbot County
“Our service delivery plan has been committed to was quality healthcare service and jobs in Chestertown and Kent County, focused on state-of-the-art medical care, emergency care, success to physicians and specialists and robust out-patient services. Our plan calls for support excellence of inpatient care in Chestertown until at least 2022 with the continued feasibility of our inpatient care to be evaluated in light of the state’s rural status.”
In this video, Kozell describes key service lines critical to am acute care hospital: primary care which will include obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics; medical specialties and surgical specialties; oncology; and behavioral health.
The plan also addresses transportation needs, physician recruitment which will be addressed with the help of the Chestertown Physician’s Council.
“Our efforts are short-term, medium-term and long-term over the next five years to retain existing primary care providers and recruit additional primary care providers,” Kozel said.
Surgical services at Chestertown Hospital will continue, while expanding primary care specialists in areas that have medical office buildings like the new one recently opened on Philosopher’s Terrace.
“The Board at Shore Regional Health has authorized management to operationalize the recommendations from this service delivery plan over the next five years,” Kozel said.
Jane E. Hukill says
Thanks on both sides to the folks that made this possible, and to the support of our legislative offiicials who helped move this all forward. And many thanks to the medical support staff who so bravely stood up to a difficult task – many thanks. Even more so to all those citizens who showed up on that 2pm Sunday meeting at the Fire Hall in Chestertown to talk about it – bravo to the citizens of Kent County.