Inova Loudoun CEO Expresses Concern Over Proposed Rt. 50 Medical Center

By Matt Tobin

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Chief Executive Officer of Inova Loudoun Hospital spoke at a public meeting Wednesday night to discuss the potential construction of a new medical campus along the Route 50 corridor in southern Loudoun.

The construction, approved by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in February, is in a state of limbo because of rival Hospital Corporation of America's proposed 164-bed Broadlands Regional Medical Center, which would be located in Ashburn.

HCA, which is the commonwealth's largest profit-driven health care provider, made the same proposal in 2005, but was denied permission by the Board of Supervisors over fears that a new hospital would create too much noise and traffic for adjacent communities.

Randall L. Kelley, before a small crowd in Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church in Chantilly, discussed Inova's plan for a 4-story, 113,000-square-foot medical building along Route 50 in the Arcola area. The Inova site would also have a 24-hour emergency room and outpatient services. As the site expanded, Kelley said, it would grow to include inpatient services as well.

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.

But the site, said Kelley, hinges upon the fate of the HCA proposal, which was granted a Certificate of Public Need extension by the Virginia Commissioner of Health on Monday and now awaits county approval.

"Our financial analysis tells us that if Broadlands is built five miles from the [Inova] Lansdowne Hospital, we're looking at losing somewhere around $31 million a year from our operating bottom line," Kelley said. "It's going to take us from being profitable, to being highly unprofitable."

"If I have to cut $31 million in expense from the hospital's $200 million budget, I'm not going to be expanding anywhere," Kelley added. "I'm going to be looking at shrinking the organization."

Kelley urged members of the crowd to make the argument against HCA's proposal into one of proper land-use.

"The property that they [HCA] bought can't be zoned for hospital use," Kelley said after the meeting. "That's what they've been fighting for years; that's why they were turned down in 2005. The property that they want to build on is only zoned for commercial and retail. It would have had office buildings and strip malls on it … and that's what the people of the Broadlands communities were promised."

In a released statement, however, Margaret Lewis, HCA Capital Division president, expressed optimism in BRMC's proposed Dulles Greenway and Route 659 Ashburn location.

"We are very pleased that the Commissioner continues to recognize the public need for Broadlands Regional Medical Center," she said. "BRMC is the right project in the right location and we look forward to the day where we can be a part of the health care solution desperately needed in Loudoun County."

Tagged: Ashburn, health care, Inova Loudoun Hospital

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