Chairman Scott York (I-At Large) was the sole dissident on Tuesday night as the Board of Supervisors voted to pass the Countywide Health Care Facilities Plan.
York opposed the plan on the basis that it was "site-specific" — meaning that it could exclude the proposed Broadlands Regional Medical Center, a controversial new hospital owned by Hospital Corporation of America, one of the country's largest for-profit health-care providers.
Loudoun Healthcare Inc. has opposed the Broadlands site, resulting in litigation that has sent the two health-care providers to court. The latest development was a decision to rescind the Broadlands certificate of public need, which is required for every health-care facility. The Broadlands site may yet get approval from the state, but that decision won't be made until May.
The Countywide Health Care Facilities Plan was originally designed by Loudoun Healthcare in direct response to the Broadlands threat. Loudoun Healthcare opposed Broadlands on the thesis that the new hospital, five miles away from its Lansdowne campus, would create too much competition for the nonprofit to survive.
Loudoun Healthcare's original proposition included a map of future hospital and community health center sites — markedly not including Broadlands.
Since Loudoun Healthcare proposed the amendment in early 2004, however, it has merged with Inova Health Systems, the largest provider of health care in the region — it's no longer a small, independent hospital. And, more critically, the Board of Supervisors adopted the plan amendment as its own and returned Loudoun Healthcare's application fee.
ONCE THE plan was adopted by the county, the dismantling of Loudoun Healthcare's agenda began. The map was discared and discussion turned to policy language — what the county should do, i.e., develop "a broad range and improved distribution of services in Loudoun County."
But it was one amendment tacked on at a recent supervisors committee meeting that worried York about Broadland's hopes. The amendment stated that the Route 50 corridor should be given "special consideration" for the next full-service hospital. The Broadlands site is located in the Ashburn neighborhood of the same name.
While the Route 50 corridor is certainly growing rapidly, it is still outstripped by the Route 7 corridor, said Mark Looney, an attorney with Cooley Godward.
"It pales by comparison, although it is still sizable," said Looney, who represents Hospital Corporation of America. Three-quarters of the county's population lives in the northeastern section, and projections show that holding steady for the next decade or more.
"It makes little sense, Mr. Snow," said Bob Connors, an Ashburn Village resident and health-care administrator, addressing the Dulles supervisor, "to build a hospital in the Route 50 corridor."
What's more, Inova has said in a statement to Attorney General Jerry Kilgore that it "could be as much as 12 years before they look at planning and building a hospital [along Route 50]," York said.
York voted against passing the plan, which he called too specific.
"It shouldn't be specific," he added. "It's a poor way to plan."
AN OVER-CAPACITY crowd filled the board room for the first of two times on Tuesday to hear the supervisors' decision on the Countywide Health Care Facilities Plan. Most spoke in favor, but a few asked that supervisors remember and support Broadlands Regional Medical Center.
Bethany L. Clark's husband suffers from a terminal illness. They moved to Ashburn Farm 18 months ago — just six months after plans for the Broadlands Regional Medical Center were announced. It was her plan all along to be near a state-of-the-art hospital.
"Please don't stop the health-care choices in Loudoun County," she urged the supervisors. "Don't be remembered during your term as the ones who slowed the coming of health care to Loudoun County."
For More Information
To read the policies of the new Countywide Health Care Facilities Plan, visit http://www.loudoun.gov/compplan/healthcare.htm.