When the county considers a new development, it looks at what impact it will have on local schools and nearby roads. But should the county also consider the impact on local medical care?
 
That’s the question posed by the Howard County Citizens Association, a local advocacy group that during recent hearings called for County Council members to add hospitals to the list of factors considered as part of the county’s Adequate Public Facilities Act.

“There’s a great deal of interest in the community,” said Barbara Russell, who is overseeing a citizens association committee formed in May to look into local hospital care. “This touches just about everybody.”

The committee has heard presentations from hospital officials and is continuing to gather information about emergency room wait-times, the rate at which ambulances are turned away from the hospital because of crowded conditions and other issues, she said. The group is worried that more development will increase the amount of time people spend waiting for care at the hospital or force them to go outside the county to get medical treatment.

“We’re interested not only in the present but the future,” Russell said. “We think it’s a serious problem. You can’t mention this subject in a group of people without people saying, ‘Let me tell you what happened when I went to the emergency room.’ ”

What worries the citizens group is the impact that big developments, such as the 5,500 new residential units proposed by General Growth Properties for downtown Columbia, could have on the quality of services. Amending the public facilities act would be one way to help address those concerns, she said.

“Health services certainly ought to be one of those measures that are taken into consideration,” Russell said.

The county public facilities act was passed in 1992 and reviewed in 2000 by a special committee that considered whether to add other elements, such as the demand for police and fire services, said Marsha McLaughlin, director of the county’s Department of Planning and Zoning. McLaughlin said the hospital, which is privately run, was not considered as the committee was only addressing public entities.

In addition to roads and schools, any new development must also gain housing credits for each new unit they plan to build. The number of credits available each year in various geographic zones in the county is set by the County Council, which on July 6 approved a revised chart for 2012 and beyond.

While there is no set time when the council typically reviews the law, it might make sense to do so after the next general plan review, which is tentatively scheduled for 2010, McLaughlin said.

A 2006 report by the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland found that most counties at least include schools in their adequate public facilities laws, and many also include roads, water and sewer service.
Montgomery County is believed by the Howard citizens group to be the only jurisdiction in the state that mentions medical care. Its act requires that police stations, firehouses and health clinics be “adequate” in order to meet the demand for development, but makes no specific mention of hospitals, according the county’s Web site.

Hospital planning ‘complex’

While Howard County General has not taken a formal position on whether to include medical care in the public facilities act, a hospital official said leaders there factor growth into their planning and the state already regulates some of the same areas the citizens group has concerns about.

Paul Gleichauf, senior vice president for planning and marketing for the hospital, said the number of hospital beds and the need for expansion is closely monitored by the Maryland Health Care Commission, as well as other state agencies.

County populations are one factor the state looks at in determining bed need, but other considerations, such as what services are in demand and the local population’s age and medical conditions, can also make an impact.

“Planning for bed capacity is a very complex issue,” he said, adding the hospital must petition the state for a certificate of need before being able to do any expansions. The current hospital expansion and renovations, once complete next year, will add 43 new beds to the hospital total, which should help address current demand for service, he said.

The hospital is in the process of studying future demand and determining whether more expansion is needed, he said.

Council receptive, wary

Much remains to be determined about how medical care would be included in the public facilities act, including how developers would be expected to contribute and how their impact would be measured, Mugane said. She said her organization worries the new hospital expansion will only be a drop in the bucket when it comes to long-term growth in the county.

Several council members said they would be willing to hear what the citizens group has to say on the issue.

“It’s something to look at and see what other jurisdictions are doing and have some more thoughtful discussion with the hospital and the community,” said council member Gregory Fox, the body’s only Republican.
 
Council Vice Chairwoman Jennifer Terrasa said health care is an issue worth examining, but said she’s not sure that the public facilities act is the right place to address it.
 
Council member Calvin Ball said he wanted to be sure the county didn’t start down a slippery slope and include too many services in its facilities test.

“We should look at appropriate infrastructure and ensure high quality of life,” he said. “But we also have to balance it with what’s real and appropriate.”

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user comments (1)

user independent says...

This is a good idea, and residents might be surprised as they likely believed that the hospital was logically already a part of the Adequate Public Facilities Act, if adequate public facilities are to include facilities for public use. To be clear, the HCCA (Howard County Citizen's Association) has roughly 160 members in a county of 270,000. While this particular proposal is a good idea, perhaps a name change is in order so that this association is not interpreted to represent the citizens of Howard County.

Posted 11:45 AM, 07.08.09 | Permalink