EASTON — University of Maryland Shore Regional Health’s plans for the delivery of state-of-the-art health care services in Dorchester County reached a milestone last week as regulatory approval from The Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) has been granted.

On April 22, MHCC unanimously approved three Certificates of Exemption, which enable the UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester to be replaced by a new Freestanding Medical Facility (FMF) and medical pavilion.

“Our next steps in the process will be to affirm the final financial plans and to complete the property purchase in Cambridge for the new campus,” says Ken Kozel, president and CEO, UM Shore Regional Health.

The new health care campus will include an 82,000 square-foot, two-story building. The FMF will occupy the entire first floor and will include a 22-bed emergency department, six observation beds, intensive outpatient behavioral health services, infusion and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation.

The second floor will be a medical pavilion offering diagnostic imaging, laboratory services, rehabilitation services, pediatrics and specialists, cardiovascular diagnostics, sleep study services, a community education center and a surgery center. An adjacent MRI will provide outpatient and emergency department imaging access.

This plan for conversion of the existing Dorchester hospital to an FMF includes the consolidation of inpatient beds to the existing UM Shore Medical Center at Easton at the time that the FMF opens. Planned to open in summer 2021, the new campus will be called UM Shore Medical Center at Cambridge. The current hospital property is then proposed to be part of the redevelopment of Cambridge’s waterfront, through the efforts of Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc., a City-County partnership.

“The Maryland Health Care Commission’s approval is an exciting milestone for UM Shore Regional Health, as we move steadily forward,” said Mr. Kozel. “On behalf of the Board, I express our gratitude to the many Shore Regional Health team members and our Dorchester medical staff who are supporting this effort, and our many community partners — Dorchester County and Cambridge city officials, local and state legislators, public health officials, Emergency Medical Services personnel and county residents. I look forward to continued progress in the advancement of health care in Dorchester County and throughout the five-county region we serve.”