Thursday, May 22, 2025
5/22/2025
Congressionally Directed Spending for Construction Projects - Greater Baden Medical Services’ (GBMS) Capitol Heights sites have reached capacity, making it impossible to expand. To meet the significant health needs of the community, GBMS seeks funding for a new building that will accommodate new services while expanding existing services to serve residents with unmet need in zip code 20743, and surrounding zip codes. New services to be offered are dental/oral health and pharmacy services, which are vitally necessary within the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). The new state-of-the-art facility will offer a full complement of primary and specialized medical care. GBMS’ current Capitol Heights sites total 12,000 square feet, and the proposed GBMS site will be 40,000 square feet, allowing expansion to meet the needs of the community. Data from the Uniform Data Set (UDS) from mid-2022 show an unmet need of 67,775 persons in and around the eleven zip codes neighboring Capitol Heights zip code, 20743. The new building will allow for expanded pediatric, internal medicine, women’s health, infectious diseases, behavioral health, as well as a host of brand-new services, which are unable to be offered at the current sites, and include dental, pharmacy, imaging, laboratory, training kitchen, vision, podiatry, and urology. The new services are impossible at the existing Capitol Heights locations due to the limited square footage and the non-contiguous space configuration (three separate storefront units in a commercial strip mall). The proposed project will improve outcomes for people in high-need zip codes, allowing access to new services and other important services that will improve convenience, all under one roof. The new project, which includes dental, will enable patients to receive dental care onsite, instead of having to travel 20 minutes by car to the nearest dental site. The proposed new site is in the same zip code as the current sites. GBMS intends to maintain a small presence in the shopping center after the new site is built. Once completed, the full Ritchie Station site will provide 45,200 patient visits annually, as follows: • Adult Primary Care will provide 11,400 visits. • Dental will provide 4,500 visits. • Behavioral Health will provide 1,600 visits. The proposed project will also create 30 additional jobs, bringing additional opportunity and economic benefit annually to the Capitol Heights area. Projected economic impact of $1.8 Million, annually, calculated as follows: • 30 additional employees x $60,000 (average salary of GBMS employee) = $1.8 Million Additionally, the National Association of Community Health Centers calculates an economic benefit of $6.38 to every $1 of federal investment.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).