Dimensions, UMMS Partnership Expected to Boost County Healthcare

University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) will partner with several Dimensions Healthcare System facilities in the upcoming months to provide more doctors and better in-county healthcare.

The Gazette reported that UMMS began providing support to Laurel Regional Hospital on July 1 and will do the same for Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly beginning in August and for Bowie Health Center in 2013.

“We’re on the threshold of being able to dramatically improve the quality of care and service for the people of Prince George’s County,” John O’Brien, Dimensions’ chief operating officer, told the Gazette. 

Sylvia Quinton, a Glenarden resident and employee with the Prince George’s Healthcare Action Coalition, said the partnership is the first step toward a “health care system instead of a fragmented system,” according to the Gazette. 

About 63 percent of Prince George’s County residents who receive inpatient treatment do so outside the county, the Gazette reported, and 31 percent of residents who receive emergency room care get it from outside the county, as well. 

Debbie Wilkes, a registered nurse and member of the Service Employees International Union local chapter that represents nurses and support staff at Dimensions, told the Gazette the partnership would provide community hospitals with additional experience and expertise.