ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today signed an executive order establishing the groundbreaking Howard County Provider Forum. Launched in response to growing healthcare access challenges and increasing strain on emergency services, this first-of-its-kind initiative brings together healthcare and human services leaders across disciplines to build coordinated, community-driven solutions. Photos from the signing of the executive order can be found on the County’s Flickr page.
Today marks the official launch of the Howard County Provider Forum, an innovative initiative rooted in a simple but powerful belief: that when we come together across systems, across disciplines, and even across competitive lines, we can build a better, smarter, and more connected healthcare landscape for our community. The strength of our partnerships, our ability to adapt, coordinate, and innovate, is our test for this time. Through this forum, we will tap into the power of productive partnerships with the people who are closest to the challenges and empower them to help shape the solutions.
As Howard County’s only full-service hospital, Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center (HCMC) plays a central and critical role in the continuum of care for the community. Additionally, Howard County is located between two Level I trauma centers, specifically the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Prince George’s County. This lack of facilities in the county has warranted evaluation of regional emergency response, transfer patterns, and their impact on state and local healthcare delivery.
In turn, this Forum will serve as a collaborative platform for physicians, urgent care centers, emergency medical services, behavioral health providers, public health officials, social services, and community-based organizations. To achieve its mission of reducing the strain on emergency departments, ensuring residents understand where to go, lowering readmission rates, and expanding access to efficient, high-quality, community-based primary care, the Forum will focus on these key areas:
- Reducing avoidable emergency department visits;
- Improving care transitions and lowering hospital readmissions;
- Expanding access to primary, urgent, and behavioral health care;
- Increasing coordination across disciplines and sectors; and
- Addressing workforce, equity, and social determinants of health.
The Forum will also be directed to examine alternative payer and reimbursement models used in other states to identify best practices, assess what is working well nationally, and evaluate the potential implications of these models for Howard County in light of ongoing and proposed federal healthcare policy changes.
Participation in the Forum is by invitation and reflects the County’s commitment to engaging providers with both local knowledge and a willingness to innovate.
We are facing a pivotal moment in healthcare. With changes at the federal level putting Medicaid coverage and access at risk, we cannot wait for national solutions. We will act locally and this Forum ensures we do that with the expertise, compassion, and coordination our residents deserve.
Since taking office, Ball has made significant progress to ease the strain on the county’s healthcare system and improve outcomes, including:
- Funding Behavioral Health Navigators, providing $200,000 annually and contributing to lower levels of substance utilization.
- Providing $100,000 yearly to high utilizers at HCMC. Since this investment, the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission has reported that HCMC has the second-lowest multi-visit rate in the state at 17% of all patients.
- Investing $3.2 million in maternal health. HCMC used this funding to help more than 200 people avoid emergency care.
- Partnering with the Maryland Health Association and HCMC to launch a discharge hospitality suite, serving nearly 3,600 patients, reducing inpatient bed use by more than 100,000 minutes.
- Opening the new Behavioral Health Unit in December. With $2 million in County funds, we tripled bed capacity and reduced wait times for behavioral health patients.
- Delivering $10 million of a $15 million pledge to build a 29-bed observation unit at HCMC.
- Breaking ground and contributing $2.25 million to Howard County’s newest residential crisis facility at Sheppard Pratt that will work in tandem with the new Behavioral Health Unit at Howard County Medical Center.
Providers interested in learning more or contributing to future discussions about the Forum and/or healthcare in the county, are encouraged to contact the Office of the County Executive at 410-313-2013 or email cball@howardcountymd.gov.