May 14, 2009

Suburban Hospital and Health System to Become the Newest Member of JHM

Dear Colleagues:

As part of our continued efforts to improve access to high-quality care in communities throughout Maryland, we are integrating the Suburban Hospital and Health System into the Johns Hopkins Health System. Today, Suburban’s board of directors expressed its intent to join with us, reflecting a similar decision made by our health system board earlier in the month.

This integrates two organizations that have healthy financial positions, strong reputations and solid relationships with the National Institutes of Health. Although there are still many details to hammer out, when the plan is finalized early this fall, Suburban will become a wholly owned subsidiary of JHHS, similar to The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and Howard County General Hospital.

We’ve been collaborating with Suburban for the past 13 years, and in 2006 we joined with them to develop the NIH Heart Center at Suburban Hospital to provide advanced cardiovascular specialty care to the region. Suburban’s proximity to Washington, D.C., and the I-270 corridor make it a good fit for Hopkins, allowing us to provide new opportunities for coordinated, efficient care across a wide geographic area. This relationship also may provide us with new research opportunities and expand our number of clinical trial participants.

There is no better time to enter into this new strategic initiative, which involves no monetary exchange. With growing health care needs and an increased interest in delivering care efficiently on both a local and national level, we will continue our commitments, relationships and projects with all of our current partners, including Anne Arundel Medical Center and Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

This information will be made public late tomorrow; we wanted you to hear it first. More details will follow in the coming months, and we’ll keep you updated as the relationship is solidified. To learn more, visit http://www.suburbanhospital.org and www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org/news/suburban.

Sincerely,

Edward D. Miller, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ronald R. Peterson
President
The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System