WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) this week joined the leadership and employees of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) HealthCare system to tour the recently updated Family Care Associates facility and to meet with GBMC staff and board members to discuss the continued evolution of the American healthcare system.
“We know that the Affordable Care Act is working, but need to ensure that it continually evolves to best meet the needs of Maryland communities. To do this, we must learn from the experiences of those on the front lines of healthcare delivery, like the professionals at GBMC who are committed to providing top-notch care,” said Senator Cardin. “GBMC’s new approach to family medicine includes several enhancements to the patient experience, along with some truly thoughtful measures to promote staff satisfaction and collaboration.”
“As our national healthcare system evolves, GBMC has been able to maintain its status as a provider of the highest quality medical care to our community. We have transformed our philosophy and organizational structure and developed a model system for delivering patient-centered care,” said Dr. John B. Chessare, President and CEO of the GBMC HealthCare system.
The GBMC Family Care Associates office has no waiting room. Patients go straight to an exam room after stopping at a greeter station. As such, the office is the GBMC system’s first physical embodiment of truly patient-centered care design. It offers patients the privacy of being in a single wellness room for their physician appointments, lab work and other clinical processes. Designed using the concept of “lean” production, a concept popularized by Toyota and Boeing, the facility promotes efficiency for patients and providers alike.
“Based on my ongoing conversations with medical practitioners and the patients they serve, I have and will continue to shape legislative proposals designed to ensure that all Marylanders are able to receive first-class medical, dental and mental health care,” said Senator Cardin.
A bill introduced by Senators Cardin and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to extend the duration of a demonstration program that allows individuals with chronic mental illnesses to seek the help they need without becoming stuck in the revolving door of emergency room visits, relapses, jail, homelessness and death is now on track to be signed into law. The just-passed Improving Access to Emergency Psychiatric Care Act of 2015, S. 599, will allow Medicaid to provide matching funds to states to reimburse the treatment of severely mentally ill individuals between the ages of 21 and 64 at psychiatric hospitals with more than 16 beds.
###
