[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6056496,"mediaKeyId","3310094-a9e6b231e603879fce918bb5ca185db6","parentId",3310094,"title","Shore Regional Health outlines expansion, local investments and rural challenges for Kent County","audioSeconds",702,"startMs",100000,"endMs",802000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3310094-a9e6b231e603879fce918bb5ca185db6&start=100&end=802","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3310094-a9e6b231e603879fce918bb5ca185db6/thumbnail_100000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6056496/Kent-County/Maryland/Shore-Regional-Health-outlines-expansion-local-investments-and-rural-challenges-for-Kent-County","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6056496-74b2fef37cafb3aa204469b95ddb1e6e/orig.mp4?Expires=1771151550&Signature=eJLHWQhHfsFOJZQv1G8pszglfy-Ls0QT0vsYcgfSq0Gn2W4ZDJmYmKl096Mvc5NydfbzNeB5PyjRl77XmGK5G9NmYgZ-9ngoWWKeT4REHGnUwp0pj03fARFgRYIDlrye2I1cZLKi6vzdZEr4h2OySzsXoheh4cDuSJ5Qiznlwbgg6XiO2U1Y4fmgLZXUbmh6u9E7elfiNtm-UdIQo6qhwBKlndVLvehg4Qb4pHkrHDvj5SyjyzrK7DtxlKiiye2QMUt~Xk7XQNXlxf8tN57WDNhDXHHSb~db0o0Z~MedSxoQOx0SagaxwZnWmqFKyuio3jwNBRz5JSxC3OIUdmwddg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Kent County, MD","date","2025-05-14T18:34:33Z","article","Zach Royston, vice president of rural health care transformation and executive director of Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, told the Kent County Economic and Tourism Development Commission that Shore Regional Health and the University of Maryland Medical System will maintain local services while expanding regional specialty capacity.

\"This is National Healthcare Heroes Week. So if you see a health care provider in the community, thank them for what they do,\" Royston said, opening his presentation on trends, capacity and local investments.

Royston said Shore Regional Health serves a five-county Mid-Shore region covering about 2,000 square miles and roughly 75,000 people. He described the system as part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) hub-and-spoke model: Chestertown provides emergency, inpatient and limited surgical care while more complex cases are referred to the regional hospital in Easton and, when needed, to quaternary services in Baltimore.

The system broke ground in July on a new Regional Medical Center on Route 50 in Easton, Royston said. Site work, including a Route 662 reroute, is complete; foundation pouring is planned within weeks and vertical steel is expected by fall. The new campus will sit on about 430 acres and include a six-story hospital tower and a two-story medical services building. Royston said the project is on track for an opening in July 2028 and will increase the system’s total inpatient rooms by about 25. The Maryland Health Care Commission authorized the bed count through the state certificate-of-need process, he said.

Locally, Shore Medical Center at Chestertown is receiving capital updates: a donated, state-of-the-art MRI funded by the Chester River Hospital Foundation and further donations (including funds from the Pink Polar Bear golf tournament) will add a breast coil to support MRI breast imaging. Royston said the MRI replacement is scheduled to finish in late summer or early fall.

Royston described Chestertown as a rurally designated hospital with an emergency department, a medical–surgical inpatient unit and same-day or 23-hour surgical capability. The Chestertown site staffs for 15 inpatient beds but reports an average daily census of roughly six patients; the site cannot staff some higher-acuity monitoring (telemetry) now, he said. He added that Easton will move to all-private rooms and that all rooms in the new Easton hospital will be telemetry‑equipped, reducing a current bottleneck for inpatient placement.

Royston highlighted several community-facing programs: (1) Shore Community Outreach teams that deliver care in patients’ homes; (2) a community nurse educator providing free caregiver and CPR classes; (3) safe-sitter classes for teenagers; and (4) an age‑friendly initiative that screens older inpatients for the “4Ms” (what matters, medication, mentation and mobility). He said the hospital is working to limit unnecessary NPO orders for older patients because nutrition supports recovery.

Royston also described operational interventions. The Chester River Hospital Foundation funded a pilot dedicated ambulance in Chestertown to shorten transfer waits. He said a six‑month study showed average transfer waits before the pilot of about eight hours; with the dedicated ambulance that average dropped to roughly 90 minutes.

On payers and financial risk, Royston said Medicare is the system’s largest payer and that Medicaid represents a growing share at Chestertown: about 7.9 percent of patient visits in 2024, rising toward 13 percent annualized in FY2025. He warned that Medicaid cuts would disproportionally affect this service area and could push uninsured patients into emergency care, increasing system strain.

Royston said Shore Regional Health has national recognition — Becker’s Healthcare included the group among top 100 community hospitals — and urged commission members to act as community ambassadors for keeping a visible, local health‑care footprint. He invited meetings with civic groups and said he would provide detail packets and follow up on questions about local deliveries, pediatric counts and other local statistics.

Questions from commission members covered pediatric bed purpose (isolation for infectious children), inpatient boarding and telemetry constraints, measures for tracking community wellness (County Health Rankings, vaccination and diabetes program enrollment) and how services now located in Easton will transition as the new regional campus opens. Royston said practices on other Easton campuses will remain in place for now; the Memorial Hospital of Easton campus has been retained with CBRE handling a prospective purchaser search.

Royston closed by asking the commission to help spread the message that UMMS and Shore Regional Health are committed to maintaining and growing services for Kent and northern Queen Anne’s counties.

Ending: Royston offered to return for additional discussion and to provide requested data on ED visit counts, transfer volumes and pediatric activity.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","05.14.25 ETDC Meeting","oneSentenceSummary","Zach Royston, vice president of rural health care transformation and executive director of Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, told the Kent County Economic and Tourism Development Commission that Shore Regional Health will keep local services while building a new Regional Medical Center in Easton, scheduled to open in July 2028.","taxTitle","Kent County, Maryland","taxId",69327,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6056486,"Commissioners, nominating committee clash over appointment timing, process",4130,31000,4161000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3310094-a9e6b231e603879fce918bb5ca185db6&start=31&end=4161","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3310094-a9e6b231e603879fce918bb5ca185db6/thumbnail_31000.jpg","/articles/6056486/Kent-County/Maryland/Commissioners-nominating-committee-clash-over-appointment-timing-process","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6056486-b66ce90b58899fc1f4e0beed8caae593/orig.mp4?Expires=1771151550&Signature=XUQZK2VFGXLpsfEzoq1wNlwNWR7ifaYRdMNtF34mY6ywGciLzVqT1t~ycBilM0oiV2opB3Yo14JLx9bNuCNB95I4aBEacLXzpSQ0LXtasMOCXjlnikpOeg1-bW~7-vP4am6Lh1DDtaj0M2aTRGt2knimQ8DsfR01V6yxks134GOmH2-LHLTfGZuXaxruQZ-hAglTYf4I27u9qHC32EX4gNU5it4RHGDlS4cD~QFbFo515B7K9yH-4D4dOCr9ro9t~GDAwY8aj9rKAXJHiwPP9OOd-DBcHwVP-MmhOBwjpRS08ZXtIBs98fvxT7DmUdIX1NFEZDY9s~TKjMrqXP-8oA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Kent County Economic and Tourism Development Commission members debated the commission’s nominating process after an unexpired seat was filled by the county commissioners.

Commission members said they had expected consistent procedure: either the commission’s nominating committee should present candidates to the full commission for comment before forwarding recommendations to the county commissioners, or the nominating committee should forward its slate directly to the commissioners without additional full‑board discussion.

Several members said a recent appointment — the commissioners’ selection of Bob Jacob to fill an unexpired term — was executed before the full commission had an opportunity to review or discuss candidates. \"Either we have a process that we do for every nominee or we make it up as we go along,\" one member said during the meeting.

Commissioner Price (speaking for the county commissioners) said the three commissioners discussed the vacancy with the director in closed session and decided to fill the seat to restore a full board. He told the commission that commissioners sometimes accept the nominating committee’s recommendations and sometimes make different appointments.

The commission voted at the meeting to advance one of the nominating‑committee’s ranked candidates (the committee’s second choice) for submission to the county commissioners; several members said they were not comfortable voting on other names they had not interviewed.

During the discussion members proposed clarifying the commission’s procedure: either expand the nominating committee to include the full board, conduct candidate interviews before a full‑board recommendation, or forward committee recommendations directly to the county commissioners without additional review. Staff said the procedure could be revised following the commission’s discussion.

Ending: The commission asked staff to review the appointment process and the possibility of changing the nominating procedure; the nominated candidate approved at the meeting will be forwarded to the county commissioners for final appointment.

","Members of the Economic and Tourism Development Commission questioned why one vacancy was filled quickly by the county commissioners while other nominations followed the commission's nominating‑committee process; commissioners said the three county commissioners acted to fill an unexpired seat after closed‑session consultation.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6056491,"Kent County commission backs countywide housing inventory grant; local commission urged to shape priorities",200,3330000,3530000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3310094-a9e6b231e603879fce918bb5ca185db6&start=3330&end=3530","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3310094-a9e6b231e603879fce918bb5ca185db6/thumbnail_3330000.jpg","/articles/6056491/Kent-County/Maryland/Kent-County-commission-backs-countywide-housing-inventory-grant-local-commission-urged-to-shape-priorities","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6056491-5a41dd71c706f0af321b0b308074c415/orig.mp4?Expires=1771151550&Signature=Lt-G1R6Qjck6YSNPTIml8nhgQwRi3qOAisHcIEb13Cbgg7wVNvYte~~QaeyuPvwuchF1O~khbDhDPZxpxiFGD0oaZaZcbXOxUz3Uv9NxTNUPZfe5~ri1oBCL3IZdpmzJQNBGbthBb9PfhHXTrjT0CV9vnO08kvMGeARjGvJECm1sALI77PQuCv4-0D5qWscPZQtvGLCTWYdA5uF-UWT~12qcMLL3OS5jWMDUY93THSGvPtWpbFBlZh6mhfU5dhTzOdforSC0eo1W0KIRg07GWlaqCmJ5f~7Q1KtEtOpVxt0l3b663uw9n2wAjcd-uKe9jLcgoVQOqKNgnbLBcb~DZw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","County staff and the Kent County Economic and Tourism Development Commission discussed a proposed countywide housing inventory and a related technical assistance grant application to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

Rose Osborne, economic and tourism development staff, told the commission that the application will create an inaugural countywide housing inventory as outlined in the 2018 comprehensive plan and will include all towns, not just unincorporated county areas. \"The Upper Shore Regional Council has already committed $13,000, and the county's commission another $37,000,\" she said, and added the application is due on Friday.

Osborne said four towns had already provided letters of support and the commission was awaiting a fifth. She described the expected scope as a data catalog and study that would analyze income levels, housing costs and gaps, and make recommendations on how to fill those gaps. The grant is described as technical assistance with a roughly one‑year timeline after funding is awarded.

Commission members asked for follow‑up materials: the existing draft application, a job description for a previously proposed housing and transportation coordinator and clarified roles for any outside consultant chosen by RFP. Staff said the plan is to solicit an outside professional service to complete the study and that the Upper Shore Regional Council and county commission had each committed funding to leverage the DHCD technical assistance.

The commission discussed whether housing functions belong under planning and zoning or economic development. Staff noted a previously funded housing/transportation position had been grant‑funded, then unfunded, and said the county would need a dedicated full‑time staff member to implement a housing strategy effectively.

Ending: Staff agreed to circulate the grant application and the earlier job description to commission members and to follow up on the missing town letter of support and timing for grant award notifications.

","Staff and commission members discussed an application for a DHCD technical assistance/ housing inventory grant covering all towns and the county; Upper Shore Regional Council committed $13,000 and the county signed on for $37,000; the application is due Friday and the study timeline is about one year.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Shore Regional Health outlines expansion, local investments and rural challenges for Kent County

Commissioners, nominating committee clash over appointment timing, process

Kent County commission backs countywide housing inventory grant; local commission urged to shape priorities