Greater Baltimore Medical Center will forge ahead with a $108 million expansion, but said there will be design changes due to lessons from the COVID-19 crisis, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
Initial plans for the three-story addition included relocating 60 patient beds from the third and fourth floors of the hospital into the new space.
The hospital said that COVID-19 has highlighted the need for additional infection control measures, so many of the new rooms will be negative pressure rooms. The negative pressure rooms are used to isolate patients that may have COVID-19 or different contagious diseases.
In addition, the hospital is looking at implementing design changes that would allow tasks to be completed with minimal interaction between staff and infectious patients.
Greater Baltimore Medical Center CEO John Chessare, MD, told the Journal the design tweaks may increase the total cost of the expansion.
Read the full report here.