Inova Route 50 Hospital On Hold

Constuction Waits for Firm's Case to Be Settled

By Arianne Aryanpur (Contact)

Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors last week approved Inova Health System's request to build a medical campus off Route 50 in southern Loudoun. But construction will depend on the outcome of court hearings set to begin next month on a project by Hospital Corporation of America, Inova's main local rival.

Inova, a local nonprofit health-care organization that operates the county's only hospital, in Lansdowne, received board approval Tuesday to build a 113,000-square-foot facility at Route 50 and Racefield Lane, in the Arcola area. It would include an imaging center, a 24-hour emergency room, physician offices and outpatient services in the first phase. Inpatient services would be provided in the second phase.

HCA, Virginia's largest for-profit health-care provider, is seeking to build a medical campus at Route 50 and Gum Spring Road, less than half a mile away. The campus would include physician offices, outpatient facilities and eventually a hospital. HCA has not received county approval for the project.

An artist's rendering of the proposed Inova health facility at Route 50 and Racefield Lane. It would include an imaging center, a 24-hour emergency room, physician offices and outpatient services in the first phase.

Inova and HCA would need certificates of public need from the state health commissioner to build hospitals on Route 50. Before moving forward, however, they are awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit HCA has filed against the county, a case that involves a proposed HCA medical center in Broadlands.

In 2005 the Board of Supervisors denied HCA permission to build the 164-bed Broadlands Regional Medical Center at the Dulles Greenway and Route 659, five miles from Inova's hospital. Supervisors who opposed the project said a 24-hour facility would create noise and traffic problems for neighboring communities. HCA has received a certificate of public need from the state for the Broadlands hospital, and the lawsuit trial is scheduled to begin March 10.

If HCA wins the lawsuit, Inova officials said they might not apply for a certificate of public need for their campus on Route 50. Inova Loudoun chief executive Randy Kelley said it is unlikely that the state would approve either of the Route 50 hospitals if the Broadlands project were to go forward.

"If [HCA] builds in our back yard, there won't be hospital beds on Route 50 for years to come," Kelley said. "If you look at the numbers and the population base, that's the logical conclusion."

An artist's rendering of the proposed HCA medical campus.

Mark Foust, an HCA Virginia spokesman, said he did not want to speculate on what the state health commissioner would do in that situation. But he said the proximity of two medical campuses is not necessarily a problem for the state.

"It all depends on population growth," Foust said. "In areas like Richmond, there are hospitals that are located, if not adjacent to each other, very close to each other."

HCA's priority is to build the medical center at Broadlands, he said, and then an outpatient facility at the Route 50 campus.

"We want to build Broadlands because that's where the explosive growth is, then begin with outpatient services at our Route 50 campus because that's what best meets community needs at this time," Foust said. "Then, if the population grows, as many people think it will, we would be positioned to build the county's third hospital on Route 50."

If the court rules in favor of the Board of Supervisors, Inova will apply for a certificate of public need for its Route 50 campus before June, Kelley said.

Your Thoughts...

Are you happy that the school year is over?