Supporting Our Communities
COMMUNITY
HEALTH
Improvement
Report
Our Mission
University of Maryland Charles Regional Health exists to always provide excellent patient care as measured by the population’s health, clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and cost effectiveness.
Our Vision
UM Charles Regional Health will remain the premier place to receive care and the premier place to provide care.
Financial Assistance Policy
Hospital care is available to all patients regardless of their race, color, national origin, age, gender or ability to pay. Patients with balances due resulting from limited or no insurance coverage may qualify for our Financial Assistance Policy. This Policy is designed to assist patients who are financially in need of help. UM Charles Regional Medical Center uses poverty guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to determine a person’s eligibility. We may consider other financial assets and liabilities of the patient and family when determining the ability to pay.
The patient is responsible for providing information requested during the qualification process. Bills will continue to arrive until eligibility has been determined.
For additional information on UM Charles Regional’s Financial Assistance Policy, or to receive a copy of the application, please call 301-609-5147 between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, or visit
charlesregional.org.
Reaching out into the community to make Charles County a healthier place to live is an important part of our mission at University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center (UM CRMC).
Before someone ends up in the hospital sick or hurt, a complex network of variables contributes to that person’s health and safety (or the lack thereof). As a health care provider — not simply a “sick care” provider — the community medical center has the power to reach beyond its four walls into that network of variables that can build health and well-being for the people of the community.
The buzzword for this strategy is population health management, and we’ve been a believer for years. According to the Maryland Hospital Association, Maryland’s hospitals are embracing population health as an innovative, far-reaching model of health care delivery that holds the promise to keep people healthier, improve the direct care experience for those who are sick and reduce the overall cost of providing care.
Take, for instance, a middle-aged woman with diabetes who comes into the emergency department with a poor-healing wound. Freeze the frame and rewind to the moments of opportunity to intervene and set her on a healthier course. That emergency room visit could have been prevented with better access to primary or specialist care to treat the wound before it became an emergency.
Back up further and look at the power of education and prevention. A diabetes education class to help the woman better manage her blood sugar might have prevented the slow-healing wound in the first place. If she had gestational diabetes that increased her risk of later developing Type 2 diabetes, support and intervention during and after her pregnancy might have kept her from becoming diabetic. Outreach efforts that empower people to stay active and achieve and maintain a healthy weight could help her and many others to reduce the risk of developing diabetes and other chronic diseases. More broadly, a health system can contribute to efforts to improve community access to healthy food and safe places to walk. This kind of change isn’t easy and it isn’t fast. Improving community health is more complex and powerful than prescribing a pill to cure an illness. Through periodic community health needs assessments and participation in the Partnerships for a Healthier Charles County, UM CRMC invests in the ongoing work of building a healthier community. We want to make Charles County a place where it’s easier, not harder, to get and stay healthy.
In good health,
Noel Cervino President and CEO
University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center
Joyce Riggs
Director, Community Development and Planning University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center
A Message to
Our Community
Noel Cervino
UM CRMC is a founding member and leader of Partnerships for a Healthier Charles County, which serves as a forum for collaboration and sharing of information between county agencies and services. UM CRMC completed a compre-hensive community health needs assessment in FY 2012 in partnership with the Charles County Department of Health (CCDOH). The Charles County Health Improvement Plan was developed under the leadership of UM CRMC through the Partnerships for a Healthier Charles County (PHCC). To put the Health Improvement Plan into action, PHCC created six implementation teams — the Access to Health Care, Behavioral Health, Chronic Disease Prevention, Cancer, Reproductive Health and Accident and Injury Prevention — to develop three-year action plans for identifying goals and tracking progress.
The teams’ objectives complement each other. For example, better access to primary care services helps in preventing chronic disease and related complications. Improved substance abuse services can reduce impaired driving and motor vehicle accidents. Smoking cessation efforts serve the Cancer Team’s goal of reducing lung cancer rates, but can also promote lower infant mortality rates when women aren’t smoking during pregnancy.
In addition to its work as part of the Partnerships for a Healthier Charles County, UM CRMC has helped organize and sponsor a free dental care event and mobilized community involvement in blood donation. To better serve community members with chronic health conditions, the hospital has trained local health leaders to teach an evidence-based chronic disease self-man-agement class. Local smoking cessation resources have been promoted, and physician recruitment goals have been exceeded. This report focuses on the findings of the 2012 Charles County Health Needs Assessment and the resulting Health Improvement Action Plans that were developed and pursued from FY 2012-2015. However, work is already underway to translate the findings of the 2015 Charles County Health Needs Assessment into action plans for the next few years. UM CRMC continues to stay informed and responsive to changing trends and to gather useful quantitative and qualitative health information from the community that empowers the medical center and its community partners in promoting a healthier Charles County.
Charles Regional’s
Commitment to the
Community
Providing
Free Dental Care
to 700 in Need
To provide free dental care, University
of Maryland Charles Regional Medical
Center (UM CRMC) partnered with
Maryland Mission of Mercy to hold a
community clinic every two years.
UM CRMC provides planning,
logistics, volunteers and clinical
resources for the event.
Access to dental care can be a challenge for people without insurance or with limited financial means. Dental health emerged as one of the top 10 health needs of Charles County from cumulative analysis of all quantitative and qualitative data in the 2012 Health Needs Assessment. As of February 2011, Charles County is a federally designated health professional shortage area (HPSA) for dental health services. Partnered with the Maryland State Dental Association and spearheaded by local dentist Dr. Garner Morgan, the free dental clinic is an organized attempt to provide care to a rising number of individuals who cannot afford even basic dental care from a traditional dental office.
Held at North Point High School in Waldorf, the two-day clinic employed the volunteer services of more than 100 dentists and oral surgeons, 20 hygienists and more than 400 volunteers to provide dental services to 700 people in need. UM CRMC staff provided volunteer clinical resources, biomedical waste disposal, planning, logistics and financial resources.
Those in attendance received services such as cleanings, fillings, extractions and even root canals — all from licensed professionals and free of charge. A total of 6,000 procedures were performed, with a treatment value of more than $873,000.
PHCC operates under the assumption that its member organizations have overlapping areas of care and concern that are best served by its combined efforts. Compared to other Maryland hospitals, UM CRMC has one of the largest and most active community coalitions, serving as a model for other hospitals statewide who are seeking to build a cooperative local coalition to implement more effective population health management.
Established in 1994 as a community health network of county agencies and community-based service organizations, PHCC includes more than 30 non-profit organizations and relevant county agencies. The PHCC works together to identify and address the health needs of the community. PHCC’s vision is to improve the health and quality of life for all Charles County citizens, with the goal of increasing life expectancy and health outcomes across all racial and ethnic groups.
The PHCC steering committee includes representatives from UM CRMC and three other local entities: the Charles County Department of Health, Charles County Public Schools and the College of Southern Maryland. Additionally, the PHCC has six subcommittee teams that are charged with the development and implementation of programs focused on a particular health condition or disease. Approximately 75 people meet face to face each quarter for roundtable discussions, question-and-answer time, and ongoing planning and problem solving.
Subcommittee teams for fiscal year 2012-2015 included the Access to Health Care Team, the Behavioral Health Team, the Chronic Disease Prevention Team, the Cancer Team, the Reproductive Health Team and the Accident and Injury Prevention Team. Each of the six PHCC teams was tasked with the development of a three-year action plan that articulated clear strategies, activities and tracking measures for project implementation.
Partnerships
for a Healthier
Charles County
(PHCC)
Access to Health Care Team
This implementation team targeted barriers to health care access, with the goals of reducing the proportion of uninsured people and increasing primary care and specialty physicians in Charles County.
Behavioral Health Team
Focusing on mental health and substance abuse services, the objectives of this team included improving treatment rates for mental health disorders, reducing suicide rates, reducing underage drinking and increasing treatment for drug dependency.
Chronic Disease Prevention Team
Goals for this team included reducing the death rate and prevalence of diabetes, reducing heart disease deaths and increasing the percentage of adults with a healthy body- mass index in Charles County. Community education and collaboration with area physicians and health agencies were key strategies in pursuing these goals.
Cancer Team
This implementation team sought to reduce cancer incidence and mortality rates in Charles County. Strategies included expanding membership on the Cancer Team and community-wide health marketing campaigns targeting prostate, lung and colorectal cancer awareness.
Reproductive Health Team
With a focus on healthy babies, the Reproductive Health Team sought to reduce infant death rates in Charles County and improve access to early prenatal care.
Accident and Injury Prevention Team
The partnership began during a hospital renovation when the church and the American Legion Post hosted the blood drive offsite, and they have continued to host and help staff the blood drives ever since. Hospital auxiliary volunteers also provide staffing support for the blood drive.
In partnership with the La Plata United Methodist Church and American Legion Post #82, La Plata, the drives are volunteer-driven and self-sustaining, with a strong track record of successful collection. The hospital provides lead-ership, coordination, volunteers and publicizes the blood drive, in its magazine, website and in the newspaper. For fiscal year 2015, UM CRMC collected 453 units of blood, achieving a 78.4% participation rate compared to its target goal — the highest participation rate among hospitals in the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS). Those 453 units can save as many as 1,359 lives.
Based on meeting collection benchmarks, the Red Cross offers a discount to the hospital system for purchasing blood products. Charles Regional Medical Center enjoys a very high participation rate for the drives, which speaks to the strong partnership the hospital has with the community. The increased collection of units allowed the system to meet its goal of 30% average participation — saving $17 on every unit of blood purchased from the Red Cross. This cost saving allows all UMMS hospitals to ensure they can maintain an adequate lifesaving blood supply.
Successful Blood
Drive Community
Partnerships Save
Many Lives
2012 Charles County Community Health Needs Assessment
Fiscal year 2015 marked the conclusion of the Health Improvement Action Plans that spanned fiscal year 2012 to fiscal year 2015. In fiscal year 2012, UM CRMC and the Charles County Department of Health collaborated to complete a comprehensive assessment of the health needs of Charles County, Maryland. The assessment used four different sources of data: a long online survey of Charles County residents’ perceptions of health and health behaviors; a short paper survey on health perceptions throughout the county; seven focus groups with community leaders, citizens and stakeholders; and a quantitative data analysis.
Using multiple data collection methods strengthened the validity of the assessment’s findings, as well as ensuring that Charles County residents had an opportunity to participate in the assessment process and to feel invested in its outcome. Input was collected from 302 Charles County residents who completed the 74-question online survey, 200 respondents who completed the short three-question survey and 165 people who participated in seven county focus groups. In response to the findings of the 2012 Community Health Needs Assessment, UM CRMC and its coalition partners in Partnerships for a Healthier Charles County created teams to develop and implement action plans to improve commu-nity health outcomes. These teams were the Access to Health Care Team, the Behavioral Health Team, the Chronic Dis-ease Prevention Team, the Cancer Team, the Reproductive Health Team and the Accident and Injury Prevention Team.
2015 Charles County Community Health Needs Assessment
The four data collection methods listed above were utilized again for the 2015 needs assessment, with increased partic-ipation from greater numbers and more diverse population groups. Input was collected from 806 Charles County residents who completed a 27-question online survey, 1,002 respondents who completed a short 4-question paper survey, and 235 people who participated in 15 focus groups with community leaders, citizens and stakeholders.
The 2012 and 2015 Charles County Community Health Needs Assessment reports are available at CharlesRegional.org under the “Health Resources” tab.
Assessing Our
Community’s
Health Needs
Chronic Disease Management
Heart disease and diabetes mortality and obesity were among the top 10 health needs of Charles County from analysis of all quantitative and qualitative data in the 2012 Health Needs Assessment.
To improve community access to chronic disease self-man-agement training, eight people from University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center (UM CRMC), Charles County Department of Heath and Health Partners, Inc., were trained in the Chronic Disease Self-Management Pro-gram (CDSMP) developed by Stanford University.
An evidence-based program, CDSMP participants have shown significant improvements in exercise, cognitive symptom management, communication with physicians, self-reported general health, health distress, fatigue, disability and social/ role activities limitations. They also had fewer outpatient visits and hospitalizations and spent fewer days in the hospital.
Lung Cancer Prevention
Lung cancer mortality also emerged as a top 10 health need of Charles County from analysis of all data in the 2012 Health Needs Assessment.
UM CRMC promoted smoking cessation classes to patients and at the health fairs and community events. Quit Kits were distributed to educate people about the risks of smoking and how to get support to quit.
Partnering with local nonprofit X2rep, Inc., UM CRMC encouraged youth smoking prevention and intervention through the event “Bowling Over Butts.” Peer counselors, including UM CRMC staff, act as anti-tobacco advocates and host a free bowling event to educate young people about the risks of smoking, vaping and chewing tobacco.
Access To Care
Access to care within the county was one of the major health concerns cited. Statewide, the Southern Maryland region has the lowest rate per 100,000 residents of primary care, medical specialty and surgical specialty physicians, according to the 2007 Maryland Physician workforce study. Access to dental care, particularly for uninsured and underinsured residents, was also identified as a gap in access to care.
Focusing on
Chronic Disease
Management,
Lung Cancer and
Access to Care
$7,586,652
n
Health Care Services Mission-Driven$1,464,645
n
Charity Care$608,571
n
Community Health Services$502,991
n
Health Professions Education$154,037
n
Community Building Activities$133,432
n
Community Benefit Operations$58,611
n
Financial Contributions$10,508,939
TOTAL
COMMUNITY
BENEFIT
UM Charles Regional Medical Center
University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center
5 Garrett Avenue La Plata, MD 20646
