Hopkins Expands Outside Beltway
By Steve Libowitz 

     It started as a ripple of an idea. It may well turn out to
be the wave of the future. 
     The concept is simple: join the medical practices of
successful private physicians who are on the School of Medicine's
faculty with full-time faculty whose medical and scientific
research is often on the cutting edge of their respective fields.
The combination of expert health care delivery and current
diagnostic and treatment methods gleaned from ongoing research
should translate into outstanding and timely patient care,
planners predict.
     The joint effort of the Hopkins Health System and the
faculty physicians from the School of Medicine is called Johns
Hopkins at Green Spring Station. Located in a brand new
four-story, 75,000-square-foot medical center in Lutherville, it
is situated just north of the Baltimore beltway and the Jones
Falls Expressway. Although some construction is being completed,
the office space is fully leased and patients are already being
seen by dozens of physicians.
     "It's extremely important for the future of Hopkins that we
develop strong bonds between primary-care physicians and medical
faculty specialists," said Thomas Provost, chairman of the
Department of Dermatology and medical director of university
services at Green Spring Station. 
     The idea to put a Hopkins satellite facility in the suburbs
was adopted by James A. Block, president of The Johns Hopkins
Hospital and Health System, from a pioneering project, the
University Suburban Health Center, developed in conjunction with
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and University Hospitals
in Cleveland. Dr. Block was president there for six years before
coming to Hopkins. 
     Dana Frank was one of the center's planners. He and his 
eight associates moved their group practice to Green Spring
Station and became one of its first tenants, because he saw the
benefits of this shared facility. 
     "Part of the fun of practicing medicine," he told The Sun,
"is interaction with your colleagues." Because the medical
practices at Green Spring Station are under one roof, Dr. Frank
sees more opportunity for collegiality and improved patient care.
     About 70 full-time faculty members of the School of Medicine
will participate in the faculty group practice offering internal
medicine and specialty services alongside physicians in private
practice. Among the services at Green Spring Station--including a
cardiac center, radiology and laboratory facilities, and a
pharmacy and optical shop--is a Women's Health Center, housing a
comprehensive Breast Center, including on-site mammography and
surgical consultation.
     Green Spring Station also features an urgent care center,
Patient First, Virginia's largest urgent care provider in the
private sector. The center, which opened in early November,
provides non-appointment medical care to individuals and
businesses for injury and illness every day of the year from 8
a.m. to 10 p.m.
     Administrators say the move to the suburbs is not a shift
away from their 105-year commitment to Baltimore City, but rather
another way to help physicians and their patients more easily
reach Hopkins doctors. 

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