April 11, 2010

STONESPRING MEDICAL CENTER APPROVED! 


April 7, 2010
 

We support the Route 50 LOCATION of StoneSpring Medical Center because:

1. It conforms to the Countywide Healthcare Facilities Plan adopted in March 2005.

2. It is sufficient distance from other hospitals to protect their long-term financial health.

3. It is less likely to negatively impact existing stable residential neighborhoods.

4. It is critical that the next Loudoun full-service hospital contain a helipad.  SMC will have full airlift capability.

5. The SMC road proffers improve the speed with which residents in the Route 50 Corridor will be able to reach the hospital.

6. The design of the SMC site allows for future expansion.

7. It allows medical services (in particular, disaster support facilities) to be widely dispersed throughout the county.

8. Loudoun County will benefit from tax revenue and competition between healthcare providers with a hospital in the Route 50 corridor.  In addition, the area will benefit from the daytime boost to our local businesses. 
   

We are concerned about the delay in opening SMC (December 2015) but are hopeful that the 2010 census data will potentially support the completion of SMC by an earlier date.   

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October, 2008

We believe the debate about the future of healthcare in Loudoun County is about location, pure and simple.  We want to make it clear that we are healthcare provider neutral, in other words we are not advocating for or against Inova or HCA.  We are opposed to the next Loudoun County hospital being located in the Broadlands.  We believe there are a number of reasons that make the Route 50 corridor in Dulles South a more attractive location, and are encouraging all parties to uphold the Countywide Health Care Facilities Plan of the Loudoun County Comprehensive Plan, in which many of us participated during the public process in 2003-2004.   

Here’s what we believe are the most important points in the debate.

We oppose the Broadlands LOCATION for the next Regional Medical Center because:

1. It doesn’t conform to the Countywide Healthcare Facilities Plan adopted in March 2005. This plan calls for healthcare facilities to be located throughout Loudoun County, particularly in underserved areas, such as Dulles South.  It calls for incentives to facilitate the medical services in locations across the county with a goal of having such services be available to all county residents within 20 minutes driving time during peak travel demand. Please honor the Plan! 

2. It is too close to Loudoun Hospital, duplicates services, and may not protect the long-term financial health of existing hospitals.  This gives Broadlands and Ashburn-area residents a choice of TWO nearby full-service, acute-care, hospitals, while large parts of the county, including Dulles South, are not well-served.  This just doesn’t seem equitable.  Two full service hospitals a mere five miles apart may not remain viable per the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia (see report).   In addition, Inova/Loudoun Hospital Center commissioned a study by KPMG, who also reported a high chance of lost revenue & jobs (see article ). 

   Healthcare economics is not the same as McDonalds vs. Burger King.  When you consider that every single service HCA proposes to include at BRMC (there are about 20 – select “Appendix 10" of COPN, select “2008 Public Hearing Staff Reports”, then select “10-15-08 Public Hearing”, then “Broadlands Regional Medical Center”, then "Attachment 10 COPN")  are being pulled from the Arlington/Falls Church area of the Northern Virginia service area, and these services are duplicates of what INOVA already provides at LHC in Lansdowne, being 5 miles apart is an even worse idea than folks think.  At least if these services are put on Route 50 both hospitals will be better positioned to be financially healthy and many more Loudoun County residents, who currently don’t have access to a full-service hospital, will have access.    

3. It will negatively impact the existing stable residential neighborhoods.  Many Broadlands residents near the proposed BRMC hospital site are opposed to a hospital being located in their community.  See Stop BRMC website (site inactive) and the 6-year old hospital thread on the Broadlands HOA forum on BRMC.  They cite a number of factors, including noise & safety concerns from emergency vehicles (ambulances and helicopters).  These factors would be much less of an issue at the proposed hospital sites on Route 50. Earlier this year many nearby residents spoke in favor of Inova’s rezoning application with the caveat that construction traffic be mitigated on Racefield Lane....see these county minutes.           

    

4. It is critical that the next Loudoun full-service hospital contain a helipad in order to move critically ill patients to other regional medical centers as needed.  While the original BRMC application included a helipad, the BRMC website (see HCA Broadlands Regional Medical Center website, Myth 3-site inactive) and the current BRMC application (see Staff Report, select “2008 Public Hearing Staff Reports”, then select “10-15-08 Public Hearing”, then “Broadlands Regional Medical Center”) indicate that BRMC will NOT have one.  This critical element was removed by HCA in its negotiations with the last Board of Supervisors in response to area residents opposed to BRMC.  Helipads could be accommodated with much less impact on Route 50. 

    

5. The previous Loudoun County Planning Commission found 14 reasons to deny the BRMC application.  Many of these reasons appear to continue to be relevant.  See this county report.  Despite their denial the previous Planning Commission offered to work with HCA to find a suitable location on the Rt. 50 corridor.   

    

6. A full-service, acute-care, hospital on Route 50 will be further delayed if one is approved for Broadlands.  Proponents of BRMC point to various beds-per-capita data that has been posted on various blogs. This is a bit misleading.   Inpatient beds are allocated to a service area. Hospitals are located within counties, cities, and towns. Loudoun only has two “hospitals” with inpatient care (see p.8 of the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia’s “Needs Assessment”, June, 2004), so of course we have fewer beds per capita than Fairfax.  However, if someone lives in a Sterling zip code, between Inova Loudoun/Lansdowne and HCA Reston, would we say they are UNDER-served, if they live on the Loudoun side of the county line or NOT UNDER-served, if they live on the Fairfax side?  They are still in the same house between two hospitals.   

   Our service area includes Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax-Falls Church, Loudoun County and Prince William County.  The HCA COPN allows them to MOVE beds from the two Arlington hospitals they bought to Broadlands, all within the same service area.  While these beds may be a net gain for Loudoun, they are not a net gain for the service area.  The size of the service area, coupled with the fact that these are not new beds, means that if Broadlands is built "first", it is highly unlikely that a COPN will be approved any time soon for a Route 50 hospital.  That is simple logic.   

7. The BRMC road proffers do little to improve the speed with which residents in Dulles South will be able to reach the Broadlands site.   The HCA proffer for Belmont Ridge Road/Rt. 659 from Truro Parish to Briar Woods High School would expand that section to a four-lane road, tying it to the four-lane section that Van Metre is completing from Truro Parish to the Greenway.  Van Metre, in conjunction with other local developers, will complete the Broadlands Blvd intersection at Belmont Ridge Road/Rt. 659 thus allowing local access to the potential hospital site.  

   Because there is no money in the intermediate and long term to complete Belmont Ridge Road/Rt. 659 from Evergreen Mills Road/Rt. 621 to Route 50, residents from the Route 50 corridor would get to BRMC on Belmont Ridge Road from one of two ways:  1) through the old town of Arcola on Gum Spring Road to Evergreen Mills to Belmont Ridge, or 2) on Loudoun County Parkway/Rt. 606 to Evergreen Mills to Belmont Ridge.  Thus, the Dulles South area will have a significant travel imposition placed on them to reach BRMC.  See page A25 in the 10-9-08 Staff Memo (select “2008 Public Hearing Staff Reports”, then select “10-15-08 Public Hearing”, then “Broadlands Regional Medical Center”, then 10-9/08 Staff memo).  NO ONE wants to drive extra miles in heavy traffic when they need emergency care!  

8. Some Loudoun residents will be dependent on the Greenway (with its ever-increasing tolls) to access BRMC.  This doesn’t seem like a good plan.