A hospital is an institution that has a group of at least five physicians who are organized as a medical staff for the institution; maintains facilities to provide, under the supervision of the medical staff, diagnostic and treatment services for two or more unrelated individuals; and admits or retains the individuals for overnight care.  

There are several classifications of hospitals – general, special, and rehabilitation.  A hospital shall be classified as a general hospital if the hospital at least has the facilities and provides the services that are necessary for the general medical and surgical care of patients.  A hospital shall be classified as a special hospital if the hospital defines a program of specialized services, such as obstetrics, mental health, tuberculosis, orthopedy, chronic disease, or communicable disease; admits only patients with medical or surgical needs within the program; and has the facilities for and provides those specialized services.  A hospital shall be classified as a special rehabilitation hospital if the hospital provides or holds itself out as providing comprehensive physical rehabilitation services.

OHCQ is responsible for the oversight of hospitals and transplant hospitals, including licensure, certification, surveys, and complaint investigations.

Regulations related to hospitals are found in COMAR 10.07.01.  To order copies of COMAR regulations, contact Tarshia Neal at the Maryland Division of State Documents at 410-260-3874 or [email protected].  Regulations are also available at public libraries - Find your nearest public library.

The hospital license application can be downloaded and viewed with Adobe Acrobat®.   In order to complete the application, please download a copy to your device.  Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader or another *.PDF application are required to complete the application.  It is recommended that you save your progress throughout the process. Questions, comments or concerns regarding this application and its completion, can be referred to the associated program/unit within OHCQ.  Any hospital or related institution undergoing a change of ownership must submit a new license application.  Submit the Licensure Application and all supporting documents to OHCQ through the online system.  Information related to hospital certification is at CMS.gov.

​Hospitals must obtain a certificate of need (CON).  Information related to the CON is at Maryland Health Care Commission.

Licensed hospitals report changes in their contact information to OHCQ via the Change Form​.  

In order to ensure the completion of any review or inspection by the Department of any major renovations or construction of patient care areas, the hospital shall notify the Department 60 days before its occupancy or operation. Please use this link​ to submit site plans for provisional approval to the Office of Facilities Management and Development. 

After the provisional approval is granted and the project is 95% complete, use this link​ to notify OHCQ for the inspection scheduling. 

A transplant program is a component within a transplant hospital that provides transplantation of a particular type of organ to include; heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas or intestine.  All organ transplant programs must be located in a hospital that has a Medicare provider agreement.  Transplant programs must comply with conditions of participations for both transplant programs and hospitals as established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  Additional information can be found on the CMS website.

Provider Resources

To access provider resources, please visit the Hospital Provider Resource website​.