PRMC Joins Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network

Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, MD has joined the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network, a collaborative of academic researchers and community-based medical centers which expands patient access to clinical trials.

"This takes research and population studies to a whole other level for our region," Peggy Naleppa, president/CEO of Peninsula Regional Medical Center, tells HealthLeaders Media. "Our coverage population is about 450,000 people. This means that for our community of six counties, our residents will have access to some of the top clinical trials in the nation through this network."

The network was established by Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2009 and includes Anne Arundel Medical Center, in Annapolis, MD, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Inova Health System in Northern Virginia, and the medical centers of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The network tackles the complexities of multisite and multi-institutional trials by providing investigators with a larger patient pool and common research protocols, with the goal of speeding the approval of new -- and safe -- clinical trials.

Naleppa says the affiliation will be a valuable recruiting tool for PRMC. "We learned from Arundel and Greater Baltimore that this is an attractive option for future physicians in terms of building physician programs and recruitment efforts," she says. "Good quality physicians are attracted to strong quality organizations that have standards of excellence. That is an important point for us."

The network started with a focus on cancer-related clinical trials, but it has expanded to diabetes and surgical studies. Future collaborations will include pediatrics; intensive care; cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, brain and spine diseases; and radiology and nuclear medicine studies, Naleppa says.

The news of the research initiative comes one day after Civista Health System in Charles County, MD, announced that it would become an affiliate of the University of Maryland Medical System. Naleppa cautions against looking for a similar announcement between Johns Hopkins and PRMC. 

"Hospitals in general will look at strengthening collaborative relationships, but in our case we are very sound financially," she says. "We are the flagship facility for the eastern shore. We have already built a significant amount of our IT infrastructure, which is a capital demand that is driving integration for many health systems. Our position has been that we will remain the flagship tertiary care center for the area and strengthen our collaborative relationships, as opposed to financial mergers."

Naleppa said PRMC will "keep options open" for strengthening training programs with Johns Hopkins, and with the University of Maryland, but, "we don't have anything definite."