The first of a planned network of about a dozen "immediate care centers" developed by Johns Hopkins Medicine and Patient First Corp. of Richmond, Va., opened yesterday in Perry Hall Crossing Shopping Center.

Centers will open in the next two months in Bel Air, Laurel and Owings Mills, said Gill Wylie, Hopkins' vice president for ambulatory services development.

Hopkins is an investor and a "preferred provider" when patients need specialized care, but Patient First develops and runs the centers. Each center will be about 7,500 square feet, will be open 365 days a year from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and will offer laboratory, X-ray and pharmacy services.

Patient First has operated a center for several years at Johns Hopkins at Green Spring Station. The success of that center led to a plan for Hopkins to join Patient First in planning a dozen centers to reach from Harford County to Montgomery County.

Original plans were to have the first center open last year and the full network open by 1999. Wylie said the development has been delayed because "the market is very tight" for possible sites.

Pub Date: 8/08/98