Grace Medical Center (Baltimore)

Grace Medical Center, formerly known as Bon Secours Hospital, is a hospital in Baltimore. The hospital is part of LifeBridge Health, a nonprofit healthcare corporation that was formed in 1998 and currently operates several medical institutions in and around Baltimore, Maryland.

Grace Medical Center
LifeBridge Health
Location of hospital on map of Baltimore
Geography
Location2000 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Coordinates39°17′19″N 76°38′58″W
Organization
Care systemPrivate, non-profit
NetworkLifeBridge Health
Services
Emergency departmentYes
Beds69[1]
History
Opened1919
Links
WebsiteOfficial website
ListsHospitals in Maryland

History

The Sisters of Bon Secours are a Roman Catholic religious congregation with the mission of caring for the sick and dying. The name Bon Secours is French for "good help." Members of the group came to Baltimore from Paris in the 1870s, and they bought the former Maryland Square, a mansion built in 1795 and owned by the Steuart family, which had previously been confiscated for use as a military hospital during the Civil War. The Sisters used the mansion and its grounds as a convent, selling some of the land for development. The Sisters provided health care to the Roman Catholic community. The original mansion was demolished in 1884.

In 1919, George Jenkins, a philanthropist, provided funds to open a Roman Catholic hospital,[2] which was built on the grounds of Maryland Square. The hospital was known as Bon Secours.

In 1996, the hospital merged with Liberty Medical Center, which closed at the time.

In 2009, the 125-bed Bon Secours hospital considered closing its inpatient services to cut costs. It faced a number of challenges: 17 percent of its patients are uninsured, twice the average in the city. 90 percent of patient visits were made via the emergency department. Its catchment in West Baltimore has high poverty and unemployment rates, meaning that many people cannot pay for care. The hospital was considering emphasizing preventive and maintenance care through outpatient clinics, to reduce long-term disease.[3]

In 2017, Bon Secours received the lowest possible Medicare patient summary rating of one star.[4] Bon Secours declined to provide data to The Leapfrog Group, an independent hospital review agency. However, the Baltimore Sun reported that Leapfrog was able to obtain data about Bon Secours from the state of Maryland, which resulted in a rating of "F", the lowest possible rating and a distinction shared by only 15 hospitals in the US.[5][6]

In 2018, the hospital's parent company, Bon Secours Health System, merged with Mercy Health of Ohio, creating a combined not-for-profit Catholic health system (Bon Secours Mercy Health) that included 43 hospitals in seven states. The two systems retained their pre-merger names and branding.[7][8]

Less than six months after the merger with Mercy, LifeBridge Health announced plans to acquire Baltimore's Bon Secours Hospital.[9] LifeBridge is a non-profit health system that operates several medical institutions in and around Baltimore. LifeBridge took over the hospital's operations on November 1, 2019. On December 17, 2019, the hospital changed its name to Grace Medical Center, ending one hundred years of association with the Sisters of Bon Secours. The Sisters of Bon Secours continued to provide social services in Baltimore through Bon Secours Community Works, a separate organization that was spun off from the hospital several years before the sale.[10]

See also
  • Jarvis Hospital, the Civil War hospital located on the grounds of Maryland Square, the current site of Bon Secours

References
  1. "Licensed Acute Care Hospital Beds Fiscal Year 2018" (PDF). mhcc.maryland.gov. Retrieved Jan 9, 2018.
  2. Tilghman, Mary K. (2008-01-01). Insiders' Guide to Baltimore. Globe Pequot. ISBN 9780762745531.
  3. Julekha Dash, "Bon Secours mulls closing inpatient hospital to cut costs", Biz Journal (Baltimore), 15 June 2009
  4. "Hospital Compare Quality of Care Profile Page". www.medicare.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  5. Cohn, Meredith. "New assessment ranks Maryland hospitals near bottom in safety measurements". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  6. "Hospital Details". www.hospitalsafetygrade.org. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  8. McDaniels, Andrea K. "Bon Secours completes merger with Mercy Health of Ohio". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  9. Cohn, Meredith. "LifeBridge Health to buy Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  10. Cohn, Meredith (2019-12-17). "Bon Secours Hospital in West Baltimore to be renamed Grace Medical Center".
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