Address, Directions, and Contact Information for the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center:
New clinic location beginning June 5, 2023
Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
JHBMC BMO Rheumatology
4940 Eastern Ave, 1st floor clinic 5
Baltimore, MD 21224
Phone: (410) 550-8089
Return Patient FAX: (410) 550-5601
New Patient FAX: (410) 367-2371
Directions on the Internet
COVID-19 Appointment Information and Procedure Updates
Get the latest updates for all appointments and procedures at Johns Hopkins.
The Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center provides care to patients with inflammatory arthritis with a focus on the care of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. The Arthritis Center physicians see patients at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Campus.
Office Hours
Our normal clinic hours are Monday – Friday 7:30am-5:00pm. Our normal phone hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 AM -4:00 PM.
Our Office is closed for the following Holidays:
- New Year’s Eve
- New Year’s Day
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day (July 4th when it falls on a regular business day, the Friday before when it falls on Saturday, or the Monday after when it falls on Sunday)
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Day after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day (December 25th when it falls on a regular business day, the Friday before when it falls on Saturday, or the Monday after when it falls on Sunday)
There may be other posted days that are closed due to divisional activities and/or professional development. That information will be provided on all divisional voicemails.
After-Hours, Weekends and Holidays Calls
- If you are experiencing a medical emergency after-hours, please call 911 or go to your nearest urgent care facility or emergency department.
- If your need is a medical management question that cannot wait until our next business day, we offer an On-Call Provider to help you. Our On-Call Provider may be paged by calling our answering service at 410-955-6070.
Inclement Weather and Unexpected Closings
- It is the policy of Johns Hopkins Medicine to reasonably maintain outpatient clinical operations; however, due to weather or other unexpected closings, such as an area-wide power outage or water main break, there may be times when it is necessary to close our office.
- Our closing notices will be provided for you via our voicemail recording and our staff will contact you if we are not able to keep your appointment, let you know what we are experiencing, and when we may be looking to reschedule your visit.
Appointments
If You are a New Patient:
In order for your care to be matched to an appointment with an expert in the field of your diagnosis, it is necessary to have your records available to our physician reviewers prior to scheduling an appointment. Therefore, we ask that you have your referral and medical records faxed to 410-367-2371. It is important to include the following: a referral from your current physician, any clinical notes, imaging reports (including x-rays and MRIs), lab results, other tests results as applicable (such as pulmonary function tests echocardiograms, pathology reports, EMG/NCS results).
Once the review process has been completed, you will be contacted by one of our intake coordinators to assist with scheduling your appointment. You may also call the scheduling office at 443-997-1552 at any time to inquire as to the status of your record review.
For International patients, please contact Johns Hopkins International for initial and return patient appointments.
Unfortunately, our physicians cannot speak with or give medical advice to patients that are not currently under our care.
On the day of your scheduled appointment, it is important to:
- Arrive at least 30 minutes before your appointment to allow time for registration
- Bring your insurance card
- Bring a photo I.D.
- Bring your co-payment
- Bring a copy of name and address of all persons/doctors who would like to get copies of your visit materials
- Bring the following medical records if not already sent:
- All medical records relevant to your diagnosis (including rheumatology records, discharge summaries)
- List of all current medications (include all over-the-counter medications)
- Recent laboratory results
- Any imaging results (i.e., x-rays, ultrasounds, etc.) on CD-ROM or film
- Pulmonary function tests (bring all test results)
If You are a Returning Patient:
- Return appointments for the Arthritis Center can be made by calling 443-997-1552.
- Please arrive 15-20 minutes before your appointment.
- You may also need to complete some additional forms to allow us to bill your insurance, to review your health, and help us know how you have been doing since your last visit.
- Bring a copy of your insurance cards.
Late, Canceled and No Show Appointments
Late: The appointment time scheduled for you is time specifically allotted for your visit. If you are running late for an appointment, please call our scheduling office. Please note if you are more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled appointment time, we may not be able to accommodate your visit.
Canceled / No Show: If you are unable to keep your appointment we require a minimum of 24 hours’ notice. If you repeatedly do not provide our office with 24 hours’ notice, you may be subject to be discharged from our practice.
Rescheduling Appointments
Our clinic is very busy and unfortunately patients often have to wait several months for an appointment. If you need to reschedule your appointment, please call us at 443-997-1552 as soon as possible. This will allow us to schedule another patient who is waiting to be seen.
Education in the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center
We are committed to ensuring that you are knowledgeable about your arthritis condition and are equipped with the best information to make good health decisions. We have many materials available on our arthritis center website, many educational brochures available in our clinics, and have additional links to information in our website. We also have an Arthritis Education nurse in our clinic who is available for appointments to provide additional teaching, education concerning medications, injections, and infusions. We hope that you, as our patients, will become advocates for arthritis and will help us in teaching your friends, colleagues, and family about arthritis and the tremendous need to continued research in this area.
Research in the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center
The research mission of the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center and the Division of Rheumatology is to investigate and discover the causes, treatments, and hopefully cures for different types of arthritis and autoimmune diseases. We believe that our patients are our most important teachers about these conditions. We have many active research protocols ongoing that track the progress of our patients some of which collect additional blood samples that our bench research collaborators use to understand the causes of disease. We also offer several studies looking at issues such as adherence to medications, weight loss, yoga, and physical activity as they relate to pain and outcomes. We also offer many clinical trials of existing and emerging therapies for the treatment of arthritis. For this reason you may be approached by members of our research staff to determine your interest in participation. Your participation in research studies is always completely voluntary. If you decide not to participate, be assured that this will not affect your medical care at Johns Hopkins in any way.
“What happens to my sample once I agree to use it towards research?” you may ask… Take a look as numerous doctors and researchers explain the process step by step, from gathering your information in a clinic, to performing specific tests in the laboratory for data collection, to publishing research results and sharing them with medical professionals.
What to Expect During Your Visit
What Will Happen During Your Initial Visit
We will ask you to complete questionnaires regarding your health before your visit and possibly on the day of your visit. During your visit, you will be seen by one or more members of our rheumatology team. Johns Hopkins is a teaching institution, thus there may be Residents, Fellows, and Physicians-in-training involved in your evaluation. All patients will also be seen by one of our Attending Board-certified Rheumatologists from the Arthritis Center.
We will carefully review your medical history, medical records, X-rays and MRI scans that you bring with you. We also will conduct a physical exam including examination of the joints, and may also recommend specialized blood or urine tests or additional X-rays. Because of the comprehensive nature of this evaluation, you should plan to be in the clinic for at least 2 hours.
What Will Happen at the End of Your Visit?
After carefully reviewing your history, physical examination, and prior medical records, recommendations for further evaluation and/or treatments will be discussed with you. Depending of the nature of these recommendations, you may be referred back to your primary care physician for further management, referred for care outside of the Rheumatology Clinic, or asked to return for ongoing care in the Arthritis Center. We will provide a copy of the dictated medical record to the referring physician and to other care providers that you designate that will summarize our findings and recommendations made at your visit. Please bring with you the names and addresses of the physicians to whom you wish this record to be provided. This summary is carefully planned and reviewed, and may take days to two weeks to be generated. At your visit, you will be provided with information on how to contact our staff and any additional instructions for your continued care. Johns Hopkins Rheumatologists will be available to answer additional questions that may arise after your visit is over.
Insurance / Billing Information
We are participating with the following insurance payors:
- Aetna Health Plan
- Beech Street PPO
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- CareFirst BlueChoice HMO
- CIGNA
- Coventry Healthcare
- EHP
- First Health
- Great West/One Health PPO
- Humana Choicecare
- InforMed/CHP
- Kaiser
- MDIPA HMO
- Maryland Medical Assistance
- Medicare Part B*
- Multiplan PPO
- NCAS
- One Net PPO
- Optimum Choice HMO
- Priority Partners MCO
- Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
- Tricare Reserve Select
- Tricare Standard
- United Healthcare
- US Family Health Plan
*We do not participate with out-of-state Medicaid or Medicare Advantage/Replacement plans.
Copayments:
It is a good idea to check with your insurance to make sure you are covered for your visit and services with us. Please be prepared to pay your copay and any balance due at the time of your visit. We accept VISA, MASTERCARD, DISCOVER, AMERICAN EXPRESS, and CHECKS.
Non participating insurance/self-pay:
We realize that insurance may not always cover care at Johns Hopkins. With the exception of Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans, patients may have the ability to pay out-of-pocket for non-covered services. Patients scheduled for new patient appointments are required to pay a $600 deposit at the time of service. Patients scheduled for return visits are required to pay a $289 deposit at the time of service.
Prescription Policies and Prescription Refills
In order for our office to provide you with timely refills, please request your medication refills at least one week in advance. Refill requests may be made via a myChart message to your provider, calling our office, or by receiving a fax from your pharmacy.
Forms Completion
The only documentation regarding your health or illness required by law (and included in the office visit charge) is an office visit note. Completing paperwork for schools, camps, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims, long-term care, life insurance, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and other disability claims go beyond routine medical care and may require an update of your medical information or a special examination. In order to make this determination, please forward your form(s) to our office prior to your scheduled visit. For those forms that can be completed outside of a clinical visit, please allow a minimum of 5 business days for your completed form to be returned to you.
