Shore Health Seeks Design Firm for New Hospital

(Baltimore Business Journal) — Shore Health System, the Eastern Shore affiliate of the University of Maryland Medical System, is looking for an architecture firm to help it win approval from the state to build a new 200-bed hospital.

Work on the proposed hospital, which Shore’s board of directors approved last year and would be built just north of Easton along Rt. 50, is not expected to begin until 2012. In the meantime, UMMS and Shore are soliciting bids from design firms with knowledge of Maryland’s health care regulatory system. Bids are due by Nov. 30.

A hospital to replace Easton Memorial could cost between $200 million and $300 million and include about 400,000 square feet on more than 250 acres, said Patti Willis, Shore’s vice president of corporate communications. The hospital would serve residents in Talbot, Queen Anne’s, Kent, Caroline and Dorchester counties.

In fiscal 2009, which ended June 30, Easton Memorial’s admissions topped 11,000 and it made about $2 million.