Changing Tack in Hospital Dispute

Inova Fears HCA Will Try to Shift Beds and Services

The long-running fight for hospital space in Northern Virginia between Inova Health System and Hospital Corporation of America took another unusual turn Wednesday when Inova accused its competitor of trying to strategically "tie up" bed space with its latest application to build in Loudoun County.

Last month, HCA officials announced plans to build Loudoun's second hospital, a 164-bed facility along Route 50 at Gum Spring Road in Sterling that would cost $195 million and open in 2015. That decision reversed earlier public statements by the Nashville-based company, which had said it had "no plans" to build a hospital on Route 50.

In a letter to the state health commissioner, Inova officials said they have "grave concerns that HCA is merely trying to take the path of least resistance in the short term, and that HCA will use the relocation to Route 50 as a place holder until HCA decides at some point in the future where to deploy the beds."

Mark Foust, an HCA spokesman, said the company has proposed the Route 50 facility in "good faith," adding that Inova was "again inserting itself into the discussion in a less-than-positive fashion."

HCA, a for-profit company that has its Virginia headquarters in Richmond, operates 13 hospital facilities in the state. Inova, a nonprofit organization based in Falls Church, runs six hospitals in Northern Virginia.

After a meeting in Richmond with health officials last week, Inova asked the state to prevent HCA from moving any of its beds or services from the Route 50 site until an "appropriate time" had passed after the hospital's opening and to require full regulatory review for any service shift.

Randy Kelley, chief executive of Inova Loudoun Hospital, said Inova wants assurances that HCA won't change course and use county and state approval for the Sterling hospital to "trade off" services to other facilities. "Frankly, HCA has been notoriously unreliable in their public statements," Kelley said in an interview.

In February, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors narrowly voted down HCA's proposal to build a hospital in the more densely populated Broadlands community of eastern Loudoun, a plan heavily attacked by Inova, which operates a hospital five miles away. During the debate, Inova said it would not oppose an HCA plan to build a hospital in Loudoun, along Route 50, near a site that it, too, had pledged for a new acute-care facility.

After the vote, HCA said it would seek to expand its hospital in Reston. Last month, the company proposed building its StoneSpring Medical Center in southern Loudoun.

Foust, the HCA spokesman, said Inova's letter "cast doubt" on its Route 50 promise. "Inova has said in the past they would stand down from their Route 50 application and not challenge ours. One has to wonder if and when they're going to live up to their promises," he said.

The state health commissioner has until late this month to rule on HCA's Sterling proposal.