With adjacent practices in the hospital’s Outpatient Care Center, the heart and lung specialists will optimize patient care and treat pervasive chronic diseases in Anne Arundel County
The University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC), a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), has aligned its new heart and lung care practices on the third floor of the hospital’s Outpatient Care Center. The move physically brings together the two closely related care practices to enhance existing collaboration and offer more comprehensive cardiopulmonary care to patients. The state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to see more patients along with offering additional testing capabilities, onsite pharmacy services and access to innovative treatments.
“Caring for our community is our mission and our passion,” said Kathy McCollum, President and CEO of UM BWMC. “We are consistently evolving our services to bring the latest treatments and resources together to support the health and wellbeing of our patients and all those we serve. Together, we are tackling some of the most pervasive conditions affecting residents of Anne Arundel County and the surrounding region.”
According to the Anne Arundel County Department of Health’s May 2024 Report of Community Health Indicators, heart disease was the second leading cause of death in county residents. Additionally, the number of pneumonia cases rose significantly. Patients with heart disease and lung conditions often have similar risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and age.
“Just like the heart and lungs work together, there needs to be a synergy between our medical practices to ensure that we’re helping patients optimize their care,” said Jason Heavner, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at UM BWMC. “By bringing our experts together under one roof with the latest screening technology, an on-site pharmacist, and innovative treatments, we’re able to offer more wraparound services that address the social drivers of health – like access to medications and appointments – and keep heart and lung disease patients healthy and out of the hospital.”
Working collaboratively, the cardiac and pulmonary care experts at UM BWMC designed their new space to offer enhanced diagnostic tests and more comprehensive services, all in one location. The 22,000 square foot facility features 34 exam rooms – 17 dedicated to cardiology and 17 to pulmonary care. An onsite CT scanner enables cardiologists to run calcium score tests to better predict a patient’s risk for heart disease earlier and start them on appropriate preventive treatments sooner. New on-site stress and pulmonary function testing laboratories allow specialists to conduct exercise tests to determine the cause of a patient’s shortness of breath. Smartly designed striped flooring provides easy and consistent guidance to care providers so they can more accurately record a patient’s steps and walking test results. The facility is connected to the hospital which has an award-winning critical care unit specializing in pulmonary care needs, enhanced Catheterization Laboratories and procedure rooms.
“When it comes to patient care, we don’t just perform a procedure,” said Ratnakar Mukherjee, MD, Chair of Cardiology and Director of the Catheterization Laboratory at UM BWMC. “We continue with comprehensive care for the patient in and out of the hospital. Being located at UM BWMC will enhance our existing care coordination and make sure patients have access to the full spectrum of care services for follow-up, treatment and rehabilitation.”
“Our inpatient and outpatient teams have been working together seamlessly for years to coordinate patient care,” said Jeffrey Marshall, MD, Chair of Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine at UM BWMC. “This new location makes it physically easier for our experts trained for every stage of disease to collaborate and promotes enhanced coordination on treatment plans from preventive and early stage to critical care.”
The new location includes services that address common barriers that make it difficult for patients to maintain their health, such as access to innovative treatments and affordable medications. UM BWMC’s outpatient diuresis infusion clinic moved into the cardiology practice space to make it easier for congestive heart failure patients to receive their treatments in the same space as a cardiologist who can manage their care and progress. An on-site pharmacist is available to assist patients with medication plans, including affordability and maintenance. Medications can be sent to the Outpatient Care Center’s pharmacy, located in the same building for easier pickup and management.
Thanks to the team’s connection to UMMS, patients also have access to leading cardiac surgeons who provide consultations in the same building. Pulmonary specialists also review patient charts to determine individuals who may be appropriate for enrollment in clinical trials.
With the opening of this new location, the cardiologists and care providers of the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Heart Associates have relocated their practice on Oakwood Road to the new space on the third floor of the Outpatient Care Center. University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Group’s Pulmonary Care providers also moved from the Executive Center Building on the hospital’s campus to the new pulmonary care practice on the third floor of the Outpatient Care Center.
UM BWMC has been recognized by several organizations for its expert cardiology and pulmonary care services. U.S. News and World Report rated UM BWMC as high performing in the care it provides for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart attack, heart failure, lung cancer surgery and pneumonia earlier this year. Additionally, the outpatient diuresis infusion clinic received a 2024 Circle of Honor award from the Maryland Patient Safety Center.
More information regarding UM BWMC’s new cardiology and pulmonary care practices and their services are available online at umbwmc.org/heart and umbwmc.org/lung.
About the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center
The University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC) is a 307-bed medical center committed to improving the health outcomes of the communities it serves. A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), UM BWMC is located in Glen Burnie (Anne Arundel County) and has more than 3,100 team members and 1,000 medical providers on staff. The medical group provides primary and specialty care services to individuals throughout the region. Together with community providers and faculty from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, UM BWMC offers a wide range of clinical programs including cancer, critical care, emergency, heart, lung, neurosciences, orthopedics, pediatric, primary care, vascular, and women’s health. For more information, visit umbwmc.org.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high-quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
