In Leesburg, Concern About New Hospital's Economic Effect

By Kafia A. Hosh

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The debate over a proposed hospital in Broadlands spread to the Leesburg Town Council last week, as members voiced concern that the project could affect Inova Loudoun Hospital's Leesburg campus.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has until May to decide whether to allow HCA Virginia to build the 164-bed Broadlands Regional Medical Center at Route 659 and the Dulles Greenway. Council members, expressing concern that Inova might reduce its Loudoun operations if its competitor's project is approved, passed a resolution Tuesday expressing support for maintaining and expanding the Leesburg facility.

Supervisors said the Inova medical center on Cornwall Street, which used to be the county's only 24-hour hospital, is vital to the town's economy and its efforts to attract a university campus.

The HCA proposal "is really a county decision," Leesburg Council member David S. Butler said. "I do want to just state support for the Cornwall campus, and I want to make sure [the supervisors] take that factor into account."

The Cornwall campus has an emergency room and psychiatric ward. Inova has said it plans to build a larger emergency room, an imaging center and an additional lab. But Inova officials have said they would not be able to afford the expansion if the HCA hospital opens in Broadlands, five miles from Inova Loudoun Hospital in Lansdowne, because the new facility would cut into their share of the insured-patient market.

"It would kill it," Randall Kelley, chief executive officer of Inova Loudoun Hospital, said of the Cornwall campus expansion. "We would have to shrink Inova Loudoun Hospital as an organization across the county."

Kelley declined to say whether Inova might consider closing the Cornwall campus as part of reducing its operations. Some council members said they think that is a possibility.

Leesburg Vice Mayor Katie Sheldon Hammler said she was worried about such an outcome, calling Inova's presence in Leesburg an "economic anchor." She said the Cornwall expansion is crucial to Leesburg's efforts to recruit science-based research institutes and a George Mason University campus that might include a medical program.

"We don't want to limit Inova's ability to expand," Hammler said. "It could be a game changer for us in attracting new companies and creating new high-tech jobs."

Kenneth Reid and other council members said that although they are concerned about the future of the Cornwall campus, they favor the Broadlands project. Reid said the council should avoid taking a position on the Broadlands hospital.

"I wouldn't want to divide the community over that," he said, noting that several of his constituents had sent him e-mails supporting the HCA proposal. "I don't think the Town of Leesburg should weigh in on a county issue."

Reid sponsored the resolution that stated support for the Cornwall campus expansion and asked county supervisors to consider the campus when deciding on future hospital projects in Loudoun. The resolution, which passed 6 to 1, did not mention the HCA proposal. The council defeated two motions to oppose the HCA project.

Inova officials said they were content with the town's resolution. "We're very pleased, and I think it helps validate our position on this," Kelley said.

HCA officials said they were happy that council members chose not to formally oppose the Broadlands project. The HCA hospital "will serve residents of the entire county, and we've taken steps to communicate that to elected bodies, as well as the public," HCA spokesman Mark Foust said.

A group of town residents supporting the Broadlands hospital said Leesburg officials should not have adopted any resolution related to the issue. "They should have no voice, they should have no opinion, it shouldn't matter to them," said Diana Johns, founder of Leesburg Residents for BRMC.

Johns said she formed her group because residents need health-care options besides Inova. "I don't even know that the Broadlands medical center will be better than Inova," said Johns, who lives in Leesburg, two miles from the Cornwall campus. "I just think that everybody needs a choice."

Tagged: Board of Supervisors, Broadlands, hospital, Inova Loudoun Hospital, Leesburg Town Council

Your Thoughts...

Are you happy that the school year is over?