University of Maryland Shore Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at Chestertown is under new ownership effective June 1, 2018. The Center staff are making the transition and net proceeds from sale are committed to enhance health care services and equipment at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown.
According to Ken Kozel, president and CEO of UM Shore Regional Health (UM SRH), the Center’s new owner/operator, Outcome Health Group, specializes in managing quality long term care and rehabilitation facilities. The terms of the sale have not been released.
“We are very pleased to have completed an agreement with Outcome Health Group that includes certain assurances we viewed as an important component in our mission of providing quality health care for patients and their family members in the region,” says Kozel. These assurances included that the purchaser would keep the facility open and serving the community as a long term care facility; that the purchaser demonstrated a commitment to expanding the admission criteria so that patients with higher-acuity care needs can be accommodated; and that the purchaser demonstrated the financial means to cover needed capital improvements.
UM Shore Regional Health Board member Glenn Wilson, president and CEO of Chesapeake Bank & Trust, shares Kozel’s enthusiasm for the agreement with Outcome Health Group, noting that all net funds received from the sale will directly benefit patients and their families served at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown. “The sale will enable us to make significant new investments in our hospital facilities, equipment and patient care programs,” says Wilson.
UM Shore Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has been the only long term care facility in the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and Shore Regional Health engaged in a process last year to evaluate its work with the facility. During that process, it became evident that an entity specializing in managing quality long term care and rehabilitation facilities would be
better equipped to guide Shore Nursing and Rehab to meet the future demand for quality long term care in Chestertown and surrounding communities. In September 2017, Shore Regional Health investigated the possible transition of ownership. Through a process that involved UM SRH Board members from Kent County, the Chester River Health Foundation Board, Chestertown-based physicians and local health system management, potential buyers were vetted and interviewed, resulting in the selection of Outcome Health Group. A period of due diligence and review of business operations was completed and the transaction was finalized June 1.
Outcome Healthcare Group has collaborated with Shore Regional Health and with employees to conduct a smooth transition. Local physicians, UM SNR residents and their families are being updated as the transition takes place.
About UM Shore Regional Health: As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,600 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers work with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.
Carla Massoni says
Hmmmm.