Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System awarded a contract to manage its new hospital pharmacy to a company owned in part by Roger C. Lipitz, the chairman of the medical system's board.Morton I. Rapoport, the system's president and chief executive officer, said yesterday that the contract was competitively bid and that rules governing disclosure of potential conflicts by directors were followed.Nevertheless, the matter did raise concerns among some board members and was reviewed by the full board last month as required by its disclosure rules, he said.

St. Joseph Medical Center officially became part of the University of Maryland Medical System this past weekend, and it's difficult not to see this development as a victory for all involved. The hospital had been rocked by a malpractice scandal — and hundreds of lawsuits — involving unnecessary surgeries conducted by its cardiology department, and the new ownership would seem to give the institution and its employees a fresh start. For several years, St. Joseph has been operating under a cloud left behind by Dr. Mark Midei and the stent procedures of questionable merit.

JOHNS HOPKINS may be Baltimore's internationally acclaimed hospital, but its cross-town rival, University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), is becoming the hospital with the best statewide network. This week's acquisition of North Arundel Hospital continues that trend. The 329-bed North Arundel, in Glen Burnie, is a thriving general hospital that serves a growing middle-income suburb south of the city. But North Arundel lacks the medical firepower University can deliver as its partner.

A federal court has dismissed a case against a rehabilitation hospital owned by the University of Maryland Medical System that was accused of diagnosing patients with a rare malnutrition-related disorder to collect bigger Medicare and Medicaid payments. The federal government filed a $8.1 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Kernan Hospital last year, saying the West Baltimore facility manipulated its computer system to show that patients suffered from kwashiorkor, a disease most typically found in impoverished regions.

The troubles at the University of Maryland Medical System started long before one-third of the board, including its chairman, resigned a week and a half ago. And it predates the dispute over how to replace outgoing Chief Executive Officer Edmond F. Notebaert, who announced his retirement in July. Tensions at the medical system have been building for years, and critics who now lambaste Gov. Martin O'Malley for intervening in the matter have it exactly wrong. The problem is not that the governor took recent action but that he did not step in much earlier when it was clear that UMMS leadership had become dysfunctional.

The call comes in the dead of night, often on a weekend. Somewhere in Maryland, a seriously ill person is awakened by a bedside beeper. The messenger brings salvation, in this world at least. A heart has arrived. Your lung is in. We have a kidney for you. Are you ready?It's the University of Maryland Medical Center calling. In four years, Maryland has built one of the busiest transplant centers in the country. In 1995 alone, transplants at Maryland rose 69 percent. The hospital now does more transplants than Johns Hopkins, the historic local leader.

Bonsack joins board at Shock Trauma Center Dr. Rose Mary Hatem Bonsack has been elected to Maryland Shock Trauma Center's board of visitors at the University of Maryland Medical System. Bonsack, a lifelong resident of Harford County, is past president of the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians and the Harford County Medical Society. She is also a former delegate to the General Assembly from District 34.

Seeking to beef up its programs and expand its facilities for a growing population, Shore Health System of Easton announced yesterday that it will merge into University of Maryland Medical System. The deal will give UMMS, based at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, its first presence on the Eastern Shore. The merger doesn't involve any direct payments. Shore Health operates two small hospitals, Memorial at Easton and Dorchester General in Cambridge, and a handful of outpatient centers on the Eastern Shore.

Lawyers who sue Maryland's elite hospitals for alleged medical mistakes often don't target the physicians involved, a practice that expedites such cases but can shield doctors from government regulators and the public. The practice involves doctors employed by Johns Hopkins Medicine or the University of Maryland Medical System. When doctors are not defendants, it is easier to reach agreement, Hopkins and lawyers say. In the process, the identities of doctors associated with malpractice claims can be obscured, an investigation by The Sun has found.

An item in "The Week That Was" column in Sunday's Maryland section might have left an erroneous impression regarding the governance of charter schools. Charter schools are publicly funded but operate independently under contracts with local school boards or regulating agencies. An article in Saturday's editions about the retirement of Dr. Donald E. Wilson as dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine quoted Dr. Morton I. Rapoport, who was chief executive officer of the University of Maryland Medical System in 1991 when Wilson was hired.

Financially troubled St. Joseph Medical Center ended its search for a new owner Friday, announcing that it has entered an agreement to become part of the rapidly expanding University of Maryland Medical System. The announcement was greeted with cheers at the Towson hospital, said Dr. Paul McAfee, head of spinal surgery. "If the doctors in the operating room and emergency room had flowers, they would have thrown them," he said, adding that UMMS plans to upgrade the facilities and turn the hospital into a major surgery center.

St. Joseph Medical Center has narrowed its search for a strategic partner to three, the hospital said Wednesday. The troubled hospital did not identify the finalists, but several sources with knowledge of the process confirmed that the potential buyers are LifeBridge Health, which owns Sinai and Northwest hospitals; Ascension Health, which owns St. Agnes Hospital; and the University of Maryland Medical System. "The St. Joseph Medical Center Board met Jan. 19 and narrowed the number of potential strategic partners to three for the next round of discussions," reads a statement from St. Joseph.

The University of Maryland Medical System and LifeBridge Health are among five suitors vying for a partnership with St. Joseph Medical Center, though a deal will likely be complicated by the Towson hospital's poor financial situation. St. Joseph has had a sharp drop in revenue and patient admissions since 2009, when allegations of unnecessary coronary procedures and a separate kickback scheme were made public. A deal with St Joseph "would certainly take some serious discussion on how we try to mitigate those losses," E. Albert Reece, dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said Friday.

The state of Maryland created one of the nation's first statewide emergency medical systems to ensure that patients got consistent and timely care no matter where they were. The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems now oversees and coordinates the providers from the field to the emergency department, according to James W. Brown, director of educational support services, from headquarters in Baltimore. When was MIEMSS formed and what are its responsibilities now?

Joseph B. Kelly, a retired University of Maryland School of Medicine researcher who enjoyed fine dining and listening to vintage jazz, died June 5 of renal failure at Northwest Hospital Center. He was 81. The son of a chauffeur and a homemaker, Mr. Kelly was born in Baltimore and raised on West Waesche Street, near University Hospital. After graduating in 1948 from Carver Vocational-Technical High School, he worked as a dental assistant for Dr. Isaac Young before being drafted into the Army in 1950.

Thanks to Wall Street bonuses and government bailouts, the size of the federal debt, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and other recent scandals, U.S. politicians have learned to express outrage as reflexively as some of us say "ouch" even before the doctor inserts the needle. Just watch the cable networks or read the blogosphere: It pays to be angry these days, and the less rational the better. But sometimes knee-jerk populist indignation comes off as, well, knee-jerk populist indignation.

The University of Maryland Medical System said yesterday that it will become the parent company of Maryland General Health Systems in an "affiliation" that would preserve the two hospital systems as separate entities, while reducing their operating costs.No money will change hands, except for a contribution by UMMS for capital improvements at Maryland General, officials said at a news conference at Maryland General.Each system will retain its name and board of directors, but they will pool some medical resources and develop a joint referral system.

University of Maryland Medicine and the Anne Arundel Health System Inc. have formed a partnership that will staff the University of Maryland Medical System's new center in Shipley's Choice with physicians from the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.Pediatricians, obstetricians, gynecologists and services such as cardiology, plastic surgery and women's health programs will be housed in the university's 30,000-square-foot, two-story building at Benfield Boulevard and Veterans Highway in Millersville.

Former University of Maryland Medical System CEO Edmond F. Notebaert, who resigned two years ago during a tumultuous time that included infighting and a board shakeup, is again the subject of controversy over his $7.8 million pay package. Notebaert walked away with the compensation — details of which weren't disclosed in filings with the Internal Revenue Service until this week — after he announced his retirement in July 2008. Tensions had arisen between him and physicians over how the system was run. Shortly after his departure, one-third of the board resigned, including the chairman and vice chairman.

A statewide health information exchange that would give doctors computerized access to patients' medical histories got a $10 million funding boost Wednesday. The Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, the state agency that sets rates that hospitals can charge, approved the startup funding to build the system that's been studied for several years. The funding comes from a surcharge of a few pennies on hospital bills, which are mostly footed by insurance companies. "This will give health care providers the right information at the point of care so that they can make the best diagnosis and treatment decision, while in a framework that protects patient privacy," said David Horrocks, president of Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients.