Patient Care

Nearly 70 elderly patients and vulnerable adults must find new homes because of the planned closure of Harborside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore, a sprawling facility with numerous fire hazards uncovered in a recent state inspection. The nursing home - the first in Maryland to accept AIDS patients in 1985 - will shut down within the next month after Medicaid and Medicare stop paying for patient care. The federal health care programs decided to cut off funding after a March inspection by the state found more than 30 safety violations, primarily due to structural problems.

Johns Hopkins will use an $8.9 million gift to make intensive care units safer for patients, expanding on the institution's past work to reduce medical mistakes that have long troubled hospitals. The grant is part of a 10-year, $500 million program — called the Patient Care Program — announced Tuesday by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to eliminate all preventable harm to patients in hospitals. The program seeks to improve health outcomes by eliminating medical error, better engaging patients in their care, and using technology to better coordinate patient care.

The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine commemorated the grand opening of its Bel Air and Havre de Grace locations (both formerly Parris-Castoro Eye Care Centers) during a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony. These two sites represent the ninth and 10th satellite offices in the state for the Wilmer Eye Institute. Dignitaries throughout the county and representatives from Johns Hopkins Medicine attended the event. Among them was Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Dr. Peter J. McDonnell, William Holland Wilmer Professor of Ophthalmology and director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Barbara A. Hall, a former secretary who was a longtime volunteer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, died Sunday of pneumonia at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 92. The daughter of a high school principal and a homemaker, the former Barbara Abbott was born in Fort Fair, Maine, and in 1926 moved with her family to Providence, R.I., where she graduated in 1937 from Hope Street High School. She was a 1941 graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where she earned a bachelor's degree in European history.

Jenna Beal, a registered nurse, was presented with Carroll Hospital Center's July Daisy Award — an honor given to a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse to recognize outstanding efforts in patient care. A nurse at the hospital since 2007, Beal was honored specifically for her care of a patient in the critical care unit and her compassion toward the patient's family members. "Jenna is an exceptional nurse who truly understands that providing exceptional patient care means not only attending to the needs of the patient but also assisting and showing compassion toward the patient's family," said Stephanie Reid, vice president of quality and chief nursing officer.

Baltimore Medical System won a nearly half-million grant to develop a program for patients with both chronic diseases and behavior health needs. The $498,906 from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield will be used to develop a unique-in-the-state turn on patient centered medical homes, a model where a team of providers work to achieve better quality care for lower costs by coordinating patient care. The participants in this program will get integrated care blending primary care, psychiatric care, low-threshold counseling and social services.

At the ding of a cowbell Sunday, staffers in a command center at the Johns Hopkins Hospital began clapping and yelling out victory cheers. Another department had begun to transfer patients as part of a massive move from Hopkins' aging hospital building to a towering $1.1 billion facility next door. The complicated process, which centered on the delicate task of relocating sick patients, was running according to plan. The official opening Tuesday of the two 12-story towers will mark the final step in the largest hospital project in Maryland history.

Good Samaritan Hospital agreed to pay $793,548 to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to federal health benefit programs for four years ending in December 2008, federal Department of Justice officials reported Wednesday. The hospital denied any wrongdoing, but federal officials say the MedStar Health System hospital listed some patients admitted to the hospital as suffering from malnutrition when they were not diagnosed or treated for that condition. It was marked as a secondary condition in each case.

Maxine Reed-Vance, of Belcamp, director of clinical affairs and causality assurance for Baltimore Healthy Start Inc., has been selected for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Innovation Advisors Program. Vance was selected through a competitive process and is one of 73 selected from a field of more than 900 applicants nationwide. The initiative, launched by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Innovations Center in 2011, will assist health care professionals deepen skills that will drive improvements to patient care and reduce cost.

St. Joseph Medical Center plans to cut 17 positions at the troubled Towson hospital as part of a "performance improvement initiative. " Hospital officials said in a statement that the "effort requires that we make some difficult but necessary staffing decisions. " The statement also says, "St. Joseph must respond to the changing times and in doing so is charting its course for the future. Good stewardship requires that we continually monitor all variables and make the best decisions possible to maintain efficiencies and provide quality patient care.