New UM Laurel Medical Center to open June 4

Facility to serve community with emergency, surgical care on an outpatient basis

A new medical center is poised to open early next month to serve Laurel’s 30,000some residents and their neighbors with emergency, preventive and behavioral health care, as well as some specialty procedures, but only on an outpatient basis.

The new University of Maryland Laurel Medical Center, which features 20 emergency department treatment bays, two operating rooms, 10 adult observation short-stay beds, a helipad and two procedure rooms throughout its two floors, will start seeing patients June 4.

Construction started on the 83,742-square-foot facility in March 2021. The approximately $70 million project will replace the old Laurel Medical Center, what’s left of the former hospital that then-owner Dimensions Healthcare System decided in 2015 to close after more than four decades in service. Dimensions blamed declining revenue and patient demand for the decision to close the 236-bed hospital.

The University of Maryland Medical System acquired Dimensions Healthcare and its hospitals in 2017. UMMS followed through on Dimensions’ plan to convert the Laurel hospital to outpatient care in 2019, but reopened the facility for a time early in the coronavirus pandemic to provide extra beds for an expected surge in patients.

The former Laurel hospital building is slated to be demolished as part of larger development plans for the health care campus, said Jania Matthews, a spokesperson for University of Maryland Capital Region Health, on Wednesday.

The center’s emergency department sees around 21,600 patients per year, a volume that’s expected to increase by about 15%, Matthews said. There are about 1,200 surgical cases yearly, she said.

The former hospital stopped offering inpatient services in 2019, becoming a medical center that instead focuses on outpatient services. The new facility will continue that focus with a “heavy emphasis” on wellness and preventive care when it opens, according to an informational pamphlet provided by Matthews.

Surgeons will perform minimally invasive surgical procedures at the new center that allow patients to go home the same day and have faster recoveries, the pamphlet said. The center will provide general surgeries, as well as procedures for breast cancer treatment and reconstruction, gynecology, podiatry, urology and orthopedics and sports medicine.

The emergency department, which includes four behavioral health treatment bays, will offer imaging services, respiratory care, short-stay observation, diagnostic services and a pharmacy.

The new center also will provide outpatient care for common conditions including anxiety, depression and trauma, as well as psychotic and bipolar disorders. People experiencing a mental health crisis will be able to get help through two behavioral health programs: a partial hospitalization program and an intensive outpatient program.

The Wound Center at the Laurel Medical Center will remain open, and health care providers will continue providing traditional healing therapies, as well as more advanced ones using a hyperbaric chamber.