Grace Palo

WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The Maryland Health Care Commission approved plans unanimously for a regional medical center in Prince George’s County, which is the final step in an extended regulatory process that began over three years ago.

The project is estimated at about $543 million and will be a joint venture between Dimensions Healthcare Systems and the University of Maryland Medical System. There will be over $400 million in public funds that will be dedicated to construction and hospital operations.

The goal for the regional medical center is to revitalize and strengthen the county’s struggling health care system. Many residents have left county hospitals for different better-ranked hospitals, as many have abandoned the current county medical facilities. The county suffers from some of the highest rates of chronic disease in the state, so the big question is whether or not the improved system will be able to bring back patients into the county.

Dimensions first submitted its application for a certificate of need in 2013, but it took until April 2015 for regulators to review it.

Project backers, including state and county elected officials, have been pointing to the progress made that has been made in the cardiac program at Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly, which received one of the highest ratings in the country for performance this year under the supervision of UMMS doctors.

At the same time, there is a large concern regarding the cost of care at that hospital, the second-busiest trauma center in the state, remains 12 percent higher than similar hospitals elsewhere in the state, the commission said.

The state has already dedicated $55 million in operating subsidies to the hospital system for the next few years and another $200 million for capital costs.