Document 37y3avM3yd3R3L1DBygOGrwD3

In his WEEKLY LETTER TO THE MAYOR dated October 8, 1971e the Commissioner of Health wrotes . . Dear Mayors . .' . . This is to advise you that the First Maryland Health Care Corporation, a Baltimore non-profit organization affiliated.with the City Health Department, has been funded with a $98,880 planning grant from the U,S. Office of Economic Opportunity, . Incorporated early in the year, this new organization is now in the process of designing health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to offer prepaid family health-care packages to potentially as many as 200,000 Baltimoreans in the northwest and west sections of the city* Over the next two years First Maryland anticipates an additional two to three million dollars in 0E0. funds to help pay for health services, . When completely organized, this.non-profit health agency will coordinate a network of consumers, interested physicians, medical groups, hospitals, neighborhood health centers and community health councils. The First Maryland Health Care Corporation will be one of 11 model HMOs funded through 0E0 to carry President Nixon's national health strategy to inner city residents. Dr, Robert M, Vidaver, former director of education in the Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is the agency's first president. Health maintenance organizations are a new direction in health care, HMOs under First Maryland would provide total health care services from neighborhood centers for a single monthly premium. Subscribers and their, participating family members could have any number of doctors' visits, consultations or days: of general hospital care. Two HMOs are operating now in the First Maryland areas one is sponsored by the West Baltimore Community Corporation and the other by Provident Hospital, . City Health Department studies indicate large numbers of Baltimoreans go without ordinary medical care simply because there are no physicians nearby,. Fifteen of the city's census tracts are without a single primary care physician, . Many more are woefully understaffed. In search of solutions, Dr, John B, De Hoff, Deputy Commissioner of Health, was assigned the job of implementing a pilot Baltimore HMO having particular concern for inner city people. First Maryland, which Is patterned after the academic health manpower organization, the Maryland Consortium for the Health Sciences, grew .out of this effort. Representatives of the Sinai, Provident, Lutheran and Bon Secours hospitals, the Provident 0E0 and West Baltimore neighborhood care centers, the Gar-Wyn Medical Group, the Baltimore City Medical Society and the Northwest Community Organization have joined with City Health Department physicians Dr, James D, Carr, Dr, Jimmie L, Rhyne, and Dr, De iHoff in the corporation. To be sure First Maryland's consumers get the services they need, its guiding Board of Trustees includes one-half consumers, two-thirds of whom are poor people. The. .First. Maryland Health Care Corporation, like other health maintenance organisations, seeks to develop group practice alternatives to the time-honored solo practitioner, fee-for-service medicine. Rising costs, doctor shortages and crbwded emergency rooms are adding impetus to HMO formation, the more so . since Mr, Nixon's February 'Health Message" endorsement, .. N11995 Honorable Thomas J. D'Alesandro, 111 2' October 6, 1971 While may take many formst most of them gather a wide range of specialized medical services under a single administrative 'unbrella*, The HMDs are to take responsibility for the patient's total health needs when he is well as when he is injured or ill. Doctors,, nurses end other allied health practitioners work as a team in the HMDs. HMDs work through facilities in hospitals, neighborhood centers, rehabilitation institutes or private homes via community outreach, Pa neighborhood HMD satellites are developed they will make it easier for people to get medical care and will know where to turn before illness reaches crisis proportions. Very truly yours, (Signed) Robert E. Farber K,D, Commissioner of health B LIA-76092 BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT STATISTICAL REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING/ OCTOBER 7, 1971 WK. 40 BIRTHS Total recorded Residents only DEATHS Total recorded Residents only INFANT DEATHS Total recorded Residents only WEEKLY SUMMARY OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND INFANT MORTALITY Week .Ena.,,ng October 7. 1971 Week Ending Octobe r 8, 1970 TOTAL WHITE- NONWHITE TOTAL N U K B B' WHITE NQKWHITE 873 207 166 423 252 268 108 160 282 IIS 171 164 223 1SS . 15 11 129 105 7 4 94 . 84 8 7 243 200 12 e 134 121 5 3 79 79 6 5 BIRTHS 'Ip'; Total recorded ^ Residents only DEATHS Total recorded Residents only INFANT DEATHS Total recorded Residents only . 17 330 11.86 7 9 558 7 7 40 410 326 CUMULATIVE NUMBER FOR YEAR TO DATE 9 623 4.570 7 7 07 7. .197 18 170 12^ 302 10.548 5 178 6 316 4. 667 3 242 3 073 10 110 8. 176 6 833 5, 048 174 103 236 223 448 317 224 . 112 7 622 7.124 3 27 7 3.128 224 205 BIRTHS DEATHS INFANT MORTALITY ' 17 .3 11.2 27.5 RESIDENT RATES* FOR YEAR TO DATE 12 7 12.7 22 1 22 1 94 31 0 17 6 11-7 /25 8 13-8 13-4 21 6 22 2 9.7 28 8 'b ir t h a n o d e a t h r a t e s p e r t,ooo p o p u l a t io n ! in f a n t ALL RATES COMPUTED ON AN ANNUAL BASIS mo r t a l it y r a t e p e r i .o o o l iv e b ir t h s i LIA-76093 WEEKLY STATISTICAL REPORT CASES OF REPORTABLE DISEASES, NON-RESIDENTS EXCLUDED WEEK ENDING October 7, 1971 DISEASE Tuberculosis, active.................... .../ Syphilis, primary and secondary..,/.. Gonococcal infections........................... ..... Infectious hepatitis............... .. Meningococcal infections................. Meningitis, other.......... ........... . ... Encephalitis, infectious.......... ................ Measles..................................... -...*................ German measles......................................... .. Mumps.......... .... -- --------------------- ;. -- . Chickenpox..................... .......................... .. Diphther ia............ .. -- ....................- Whooping cough................. ............................... .. Streptococcal infections........................... Poliomyelitis (paralytic cases).......... Typhoid fever. .................................................... Salmonellosis...................................................... Dysentery................. .......................... ................... Diarrhea and enteritis............... ................ Lead poisoning. -- .......................................... Other reportable diseases.......... CASES- YEAR TO DATE CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF CASES CURRENT WEEK 20 10 607 10 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 6 0 0 16 17 0 0 0 . 39 7 YEAR RANGE* LOW 1971 ,20 14 256 e 6 , . 366 ' 1 ,."256 94 S. 530 SiBIlMi ^$$846 1 o '.V; --V 14 s 0 C- 5* :o ; Its! 0 30 7' : 20 00 50 -15 48 292 273 0 11 90 00 00 209 0 0 10 0 17 0 10 10 10 385 480 ty 10 2 - CO to h* . 1970 386 217 8,727 . 220 12 103 2 722 195 571 427 0 14 104 0 1 324 100 8 IS 5 1.028 ' MORTALITY BY MAJOR CAUSES, NON-RESIDENTS EXCLUDED ;;r CAUSE OF DEATH CURRENT WEEK TOTAL 7 YEAR RANGE* HIGH LOW YEAR TO DATE CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF DEATHS 1971 1970 All Causes............. ...................................... .. 189 238 176 7 740 B 176 Diseases of the heart................................. Cancer, all forms..................................... Cerebral hemorrhage........................................ Diseases of the arteries and veins. Influenza and pneumonia......................... .. Diabetes....................................... ............................ Cirrhosis of liver..................... ................... Tuberculosis (all forms)........... Nephritis...................... ............... ....................... Puerperal causes............................................... Malformations and diseases of early infancy....................... Suicides................ ............ ................... .. Homicides................................................... .. Accidents Home.......................................................... .. Industrial ............. ............ ....................... Automobile................................................... Other public................................................ Other external causes............. .................... Other specified causes.......................... .. 56 35 11 7 4 4 7 0 .1 0 8 4; 13 0 0 6. 0 1 32 84 52 26 1 10 7 7 8 5 2 1 10 2 8 69 2.871 33 1 431 9 528 3 223 1. 158 0 233 3 255 0 59 0 35 03 3 255 0 65 0 225 4. 1 4 3 -. 0; 84 0 X 25 0 102 0 36 - 37 - 1 115 3.174 1 521 550 257 186 268 251 70 36 5 234 69 . 179 103 11 LIR-76094 -_ ' 1 088 THE HIGH AND LOW FI6URES SHOWN ARE DERIVED FROM THE HUMBER OF CASES AND DEATHS FOR THE COMPARABLE WEEK FOR THE PERIOD 964. 9'0