There are more ketamine clinics than there used to be. That is, on balance, a good thing — more access to a treatment that has helped people who had run out of other options. But more clinics also means more variation in who is running them, what clinical standards they operate under, and whether the people providing care have any particular reason to be doing this work beyond the market opportunity. We built KetaMed with a specific answer to that question, and we think it is worth explaining.
How We Got Here
KetaMed Infusions was founded four years ago in Salisbury, Maryland — making us the first ketamine clinic on the Delmarva Peninsula. We did not start because ketamine therapy became a trend. We started because the people who built this clinic had already seen, from different vantage points, what happens when people with treatment-resistant mental health conditions and chronic pain do not have access to care that actually works.
Dr. Mirza Umair Baig, our board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, spent years on the front lines of emergency departments watching patients with psychiatric conditions cycle through inadequate care — arriving in crisis, receiving stabilization, and returning to the same circumstances without anything substantively different to go back to. His introduction to ketamine came in the ER itself, where he used it safely and effectively for pain management and sedation across patient populations, including children. Seeing its versatility and its safety profile up close led him directly toward its broader therapeutic potential. He has since been appointed to the Maryland Behavioral Health Advisory Council, where he works on policy to expand access to quality behavioral health care across the state. This is not a person who wandered into ketamine therapy. This is a person who followed the clinical evidence to a place where he believed he could do the most good.
Michelle Ridgeway, our board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, has spent more than two decades in nursing, most of it in mental health. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2013 and her Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in psychiatric care in 2018. She did not start in psychiatric nursing — she found her way there because it was where she felt she was actually helping people in a way that mattered. Her approach is holistic: she considers the biological, psychological, social, and environmental dimensions of every patient’s experience, not just the presenting diagnosis. She builds clinical relationships that are genuinely therapeutic rather than transactional. That is not a claim we make lightly, and it is not something you can manufacture with marketing language.
Chip Orem rounds out our team as office manager and, by his own description, jack of all trades. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army with a 25-year career in public service. He came to KetaMed not as someone with a background in healthcare administration, but as someone who had seen firsthand what ketamine therapy can do — and who believed that making it accessible to people on the Delmarva Peninsula, particularly veterans, was work worth doing. His presence in this clinic is a direct expression of who we are built to serve.
Who We Are Actually Built For
We are explicit about this on our website, and we will be explicit here: KetaMed was built for people who have been overlooked, dismissed, or failed by the systems that were supposed to help them. That includes working-class adults in and around Salisbury who do not have access to the kind of specialty care that exists in larger metropolitan areas. It includes veterans who have been carrying trauma for years while being told to push through it. It includes adults with depression, PTSD, OCD, anxiety, and bipolar disorder who have tried medication after medication and arrived at our door with the particular exhaustion that comes from still looking for something that works.
We serve the Delmarva Peninsula because we are here. We are not a national chain that has identified Salisbury as an underserved market. We are people from this region, committed to this region, who built a clinic because it needed to exist. You can see the full range of conditions we treat on our website.
What Clinical Standards Actually Mean Here
Being physician-led is not a marketing phrase for us — it is a description of how care is delivered. Every treatment protocol at KetaMed is overseen by a licensed physician. Dr. Baig’s background in emergency medicine means that the medical dimensions of ketamine administration — dosing, monitoring, real-time adjustment, and management of any adverse responses — are handled by someone with extensive clinical experience in precisely those skills. That is not a given at every ketamine clinic operating today.
We do not do cookie-cutter protocols. Treatment plans at KetaMed are built around the individual: their weight, their symptoms, their history, their goals, and how they respond over time. We track progress, we adjust, and we stay with patients through the process — not as a customer retention strategy, but because that is what responsible care requires. When we say one-on-one care, we mean it in the most literal sense. You will not be placed in a room with other patients. You will not be handed a questionnaire and left to manage the experience on your own. You can learn more about our full range of treatment options on our website.
No Spa Vibes. No Fluff.
We want to be direct about the kind of clinic we are not. We are not a wellness brand. We are not interested in offering a curated aesthetic experience or positioning ketamine therapy as a luxury service for people who want to feel like they are at the leading edge of something. We are clinical, grounded, and focused entirely on whether what we are doing is helping the person in front of us.
This also means we are honest about what we cannot promise. We do not guarantee outcomes. Ketamine therapy may produce significant, rapid relief for some patients — and it may require adjustment, more sessions, or a different approach for others. Results vary by individual. We communicate that clearly from the first consultation, because we believe the only useful version of hope is one grounded in honest information.
Accessibility Is a Core Value, Not an Afterthought
We do not accept insurance at this time. We know that is a real barrier for some people, and we do not dismiss it. What we have done is structure our pricing to be as transparent and accessible as possible. Ketamine troches start at $100, providing a low-barrier entry point for people who want to explore treatment without committing to a full in-clinic infusion protocol immediately. Pricing for IV and IM treatment is discussed openly during your free consultation — no hidden fees, no pressure, no commitment required to have that first conversation.
We offer a free initial consultation because we think people deserve to understand exactly what they are considering before they make any financial decision. That consultation is also how we determine whether ketamine therapy is actually appropriate for you — we do not offer treatment to people who are not appropriate candidates, and we do not present it as a solution for every situation it is used to treat elsewhere.
What a Consultation With Us Looks Like
Scheduling a consultation at KetaMed is straightforward. You reach out — by phone, email, or through our website — and we arrange a time to talk. That conversation covers your history, your symptoms, what you have already tried, and what your goals are. From there, if ketamine therapy appears to be a viable option, your provider will recommend a specific modality and discuss what a treatment plan for your situation would involve, including what it costs and what to expect.
You will never be rushed through this process. You will not leave a consultation with us without a clear understanding of your options. And if we determine that what you are looking for is not something we can provide, we will tell you that directly rather than finding a way to fit you into a protocol anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is KetaMed a new clinic? We have been operating in Salisbury, Maryland for four years and are the first ketamine clinic established on the Delmarva Peninsula. Our clinical team has decades of combined experience in emergency medicine and psychiatric nursing, with direct, hands-on experience using ketamine in clinical settings prior to founding the practice.
What does physician-led mean at KetaMed? It means a licensed physician — Dr. Mirza Umair Baig, a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician — oversees all clinical protocols and treatment decisions at our clinic. This is distinct from practices where ketamine is administered without direct physician oversight. Dr. Baig’s background in emergency medicine provides direct clinical experience with ketamine dosing, monitoring, and adverse event management.
Does KetaMed serve veterans? Yes, and this is something we take seriously. Our clinic is veteran-owned — Chip Orem, our office manager, is a U.S. Army veteran — and we have deliberately built our approach to care around the needs of patients who have experienced trauma, service-related mental health conditions, and the particular barriers veterans often face when seeking mental health support. We approach veterans with respect and without judgment.
How is KetaMed different from other ketamine clinics? We are physician-led, veteran-owned, and we have been serving the Delmarva Peninsula specifically for four years. We do not operate from standardized protocols; every treatment plan is built around the individual patient. Our clinical team brings backgrounds in emergency medicine and psychiatric mental health nursing — fields with direct, hands-on experience in the medical and psychiatric dimensions of what we offer. And we are honest: about what ketamine therapy may and may not do, about what it costs, and about who it is and is not appropriate for.
Key Takeaways
- KetaMed is the first ketamine clinic on the Delmarva Peninsula, physician-led and veteran-owned, with four years of clinical experience serving patients across the region.
- Our clinical team — Dr. Mirza Umair Baig and Michelle Ridgeway, PMHNP-BC — brings direct experience in emergency medicine and psychiatric nursing, including prior clinical use of ketamine before founding the practice.
- We are built for patients who have been overlooked or failed by standard care: working-class adults, veterans, and people with treatment-resistant conditions who are still looking for something that works.
- Every treatment plan at KetaMed is individualized; we do not use standardized protocols, and we stay with patients through the process, adjusting care based on real response over time.
- Results vary by individual; we do not guarantee outcomes and we are transparent about what treatment involves and what it costs before any decision is made.
If you are trying to figure out who you would be walking in to see — whether the people providing care are doing this for the right reasons, whether they will take you seriously, whether the clinic is the kind of place that treats patients as people rather than as a customer base — we hope this has given you a useful picture. We are in Salisbury, Maryland, by appointment, serving patients across the Delmarva Peninsula. Call us at 877-247-2949, email info@ketamedinfusions.com, or schedule a free consultation through our website. We are ready when you are.
Medical Disclaimer
The information in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Ketamine therapy should only be considered under the supervision of a licensed medical provider who is familiar with your full medical and psychiatric history. Individual results vary, and no specific outcomes are guaranteed. KetaMed Infusions does not diagnose or treat any condition without a thorough clinical evaluation. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or thoughts of self-harm, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or go to your nearest emergency room.