HCA Proposes Building A Hospital on Route 50

Reversal Could End Fight With Inova

By Derek Kravitz (Contact)

Originally published at 6:00 p.m., August 19, 2009
Updated at 12:00 a.m., August 20, 2009

In a startling reversal, the Hospital Corporation of America announced a proposal Wednesday to build a hospital on Route 50 in Loudoun County, apparently signaling the end of a long struggle with rival Inova Health System over its future in the growing area.

StoneSpring Medical Center, which would be Loudoun's second hospital, would have 164 beds, including 124 acute-care beds, cost $195 million and open in December 2015. HCA officials estimate the hospital at Gum Spring Road in southern Loudoun would create 500 health-care jobs. The proposal needs approval from the state and county.

As recently as last month, HCA officials said they had "no plans" to build a hospital on Route 50. HCA had sought unsuccessfully to build a similar 164-bed regional hospital in the Broadlands community in densely populated eastern Loudoun, a proposal strongly opposed by Inova, which owns a hospital about five miles away.

The move could end the often fierce years-long battle in Loudoun between HCA, a for-profit health-care network that operates 13 hospital facilities in Virginia, and Inova, a nonprofit organization that runs hospitals in Northern Virginia.

"Our decision to target a new site in Loudoun serves the best interests of all who live and work there," said Margaret Lewis, president of HCA's capital division. "While Route 50 wasn't our first choice for a location, we have modified our plans in response to county residents who need not only hospital beds and services, but also hospital choice and competition."

HCA could face opposition from Fauquier Hospital and Prince William Hospital, both of which have letters on file with the state health department opposing a new hospital in the area. But Rodger Baker, chief executive and president of Fauquier Health in Warrenton, said the hospital there might not oppose HCA's Route 50 proposal "because the situation has changed." Both letters were filed with the state more than five years ago. Prince William Hospital representatives declined to comment.

In February, the nine-member Loudoun County Board of Supervisors narrowly voted down HCA's Broadlands proposal after an intense campaign by Inova to prevent a competitor from taking hold in Loudoun.

At the time, the five supervisors who voted against the plan cited concerns about traffic, noise and light pollution. They also noted that the Broadlands site would not accommodate a helipad and that the location did not comply with the county's comprehensive plan.

After the vote, HCA announced it would seek to expand its hospital in Reston and sued the Board of Supervisors in Circuit Court. Inova said it would pursue plans to build a hospital at routes 50 and 659, in a project that has received county approval, as well as a "healthplex" on its Route 50 property that would include a 24-hour emergency room, outpatient services and physician offices.

But Inova has indicated that it would drop those plans if HCA switched its project to Route 50. On Wednesday, Inova officials said they were caught by surprise by HCA's announcement but supported it nonetheless.

"Inova believes this announcement by HCA is good news for the citizens of Loudoun County and recognizes the importance of the county's comprehensive plan for healthcare in locating the next hospital on Route 50," said Inova Health System spokesman Tony Raker in a statement. "We will be evaluating HCA's formal application to the state before commenting further."

Mark Foust, an HCA spokesman, also said he didn't "envision the need for any further legal action" against the Board of Supervisors.

Last month, HCA officials said they did not plan a facility on Route 50, because the Broadlands site was more accessible and held the greatest potential for growth in the county. However, hospital officials said then that the Route 50 property was a "good site to build a hospital in the long term when the population can support it."

Foust said the change in thinking came "fairly recently" after meeting with residents and Loudoun officials about building a Route 50 hospital. He cited figures that show about 48,000 more residents would be in the new hospital's service area by 2015.

Betsy A. Davis, the mayor of Middleburg, a town of about 950 people in southwestern Loudoun, said she was "thrilled to have a hospital in the area," noting that it can sometimes take 45 minutes for residents to reach Inova's Leesburg hospital. But she added that she had been "frustrated" by HCA's lack of initial support for building along Route 50 and questioned how quickly the hospital would be constructed.

Members of the Board of Supervisors said they were cautiously optimistic about HCA's Route 50 plan.

Supervisor Lori L. Waters (R-Broad Run), who voted against HCA's Broadlands proposal after Inova threatened to withdraw funding of $17.5 million in road improvements in her district, applauded the move and said Loudoun "clearly needs additional health services."

Chairman Scott K. York (I) said that HCA's original location in the Broadlands community was "a better site" but that the hospital system had fought a "battle with the powerful hospital politics" and "poor decision-making by two [county] boards."

"They were forced into rethinking their idea, but, in the end, two hospitals are better than one hospital," he said.

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