Center Fact Sheet
What type of facility is the Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center at Germantown?
The Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center functions similar to the Hospital's main Emergency Department, but it does not have inpatient beds. The Center provides the same emergency medical care that patients can receive at a hospital emergency department, Advanced technology allows the Emergency Center to be closely linked with Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. For example, the hospital’s new Picture Archiving Communication System (PACS), which provides digital x-ray images, allows doctors at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital to review images from patients at the Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center. For patients who come to the Emergency Center, but require inpatient hospital care, state officials have worked closely with Shady Grove Adventist Hospital to establish transport protocols for the Center.
Freestanding emergency medical facilities are typically developed to improve access to emergency medical care for residents in a given area. The Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center significantly improves access to emergency medical care for residents of upper Montgomery County, Maryland.
Why is there a need for a freestanding emergency medical facility in Germantown?
The area that Shady Grove Adventist Hospital serves includes residents in central and northern Montgomery County. In 2005, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital’s Emergency Department treated nearly 90,000 emergency patients. In fact, Shady Grove’s Emergency Department is consistently one of the busiest in the state and operates at a volume more than double the national standard for hospitals of its size. The community served by Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in upper Montgomery County faces a unique combination of factors that impede access to emergency medical care: Skyrocketing population growth; severe traffic congestion; and a large geographic service area among other issues.
Presently, there is no access to emergency medical care along the I-270 corridor between Shady Grove Adventist Hospital and Frederick Memorial Hospital—a distance of 30 miles. Ambulances and private vehicles must often negotiate through heavy traffic as they travel to Shady Grove. Since 1994, average daily traffic volume on I-270 at the Frederick County line has increased 83 percent and traffic on a key Germantown intersection has increased 140 percent.
How does Maryland’s new law affect the ability to establish freestanding emergency medical facilities?
Because of the rapid population growth in upper Montgomery County, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital’s leadership has worked closely with members of the community as well as local and state officials in recent years to improve access to emergency medical care for upcounty residents. The Maryland Senate and House of Delegates passed legislation that effectively enables Shady Grove Adventist Hospital to establish a freestanding emergency medical facility in Germantown. The new law requires regulators to develop a process and protocols for regulating freestanding medical facilities that are administratively linked to a hospital. In addition, by January 1, 2006, state regulators must create licensing standards for a freestanding medical facility pilot project. The pilot is the facility that Shady Grove Adventist Hospital has opened in Germantown. Information from this pilot project will be used to help set standards for future facilities in other areas of the state.
Where is the Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center in Germantown located?
The 17,000 square foot facility, with 21 emergency treatment beds, is located on a four-acre site next to a physician office building on Route 118, just west of I-270. The four-acre site is located across from the Germantown Town Center.
Who will staff the Emergency Center?
The Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center in Germantown is staffed by a team of board certified emergency physicians as well as about 30 specially trained nurse and staff.
When will the emergency facility open to patients?
The Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center opened August 7, 2006.
How will reimbursements issues be handled?
The emergency medical facility accepts all patients for care, regardless of ability to pay. Officials from Shady Grove Adventist Hospital have negotiated contracts with private and public insurers.
Updated July 2007