Montgomery County hospitals battle for prize turf 

Posted: 7:43 pm Mon, May 17, 2010
By Danielle Ulman
Daily Record Business Writer

Two Montgomery County hospital systems are battling for the right to build the county’s first new hospital in 30 years.

Supporters of a proposed Clarksburg hospital rallied for their cause Monday, while about a mile away, the group behind a competing Germantown hospital proposal released an economic impact report supporting its project.

The two hospital systems — Adventist HealthCare, which seeks to build the Clarksburg Community Hospital and Holy Cross Hospital, which wants to build a facility in Germantown — are  vying for approval from the state, but only one can win.

Each is looking to receive a certificate of need from the Maryland Health Care Commission to build the first new hospital in Maryland since 1993. Both endeavor to serve a growing population that lacks nearby service.

“… [F]rom a health standpoint we think we’ve put [the hospital] in a place where there is a very, very large population — the largest in the state without a hospital — and in an area with a lot of people, but not a lot of jobs,” said Kevin Sexton, president and CEO of Holy Cross Hospital.

Based on the economic impact report by economist Anirban Basu, CEO of the Baltimore-based Sage Policy Group, the Holy Cross Hospital on the Germantown campus of Montgomery College has the potential to create 5,700 jobs.

The 93-bed hospital would support 1,100 construction jobs statewide and 3,300 hospital jobs over the next 10 to 15 years. It also has the potential to create 2,300 jobs by putting in place the needed infrastructure for the college’s Science & Technology Park to attract new tenants.

The group supporting Adventist’s proposed hospital in Clarksburg, which has spent nearly a decade working with the community on its hospital and medical campus, said it has not done an economic impact report.

“It doesn’t take hiring a consultant to know that the hospital has not only a direct effect from hiring but a ripple effect on the community. The more important thing to do is to make sure the work is done well ahead of time to make sure that you’re maximizing the economic benefits,” Rob Jepson, vice president for government relations at Adventist HealthCare, said.

Advocates for the Clarksburg hospital also rallied Monday because of concerns that the approval of Holy Cross’ project would duplicate service of existing facilities run by Adventist, like an emergency center in Germantown and its hospital in Gaithersburg.

“There are serious questions if a hospital is located about a mile from there about the long-term viability of the emergency center in Germantown,” Jepson said. “We think it makes sense to add services incrementally rather than disrupt or destroy existing services.”

Adventist would build its hospital on a 60-acre parcel of land in Clarksburg off Interstate 270, serving a growing region that includes Germantown, Damascus and Urbana, just over the Frederick County border. The property would include an 86-bed hospital, a skilled nursing-care center, physician offices and an outpatient facility.

The state is expected to make its decision in early fall, said Pamela Barclay, director of the Maryland Health Care Commission’s Center for Hospital Services.

On Thursday, the commission will meet with both hospital groups to discuss procedures for an evidentiary hearing on the proposals, when the commission would examine issues such as access to care, the need for the project, cost effectiveness of the alternatives and financial viability, Barclay said.

The commission has asked for input from other state agencies, including the Health Services Cost Review Commission, which regulates the rates Maryland’s hospitals can charge for services. In a Friday memo from the commission, its staff said it has concerns about the financial viability of both projects.

“The impending health care and economic environment, coupled with the hospitals’ attempt to finance both a new stand-alone hospital plus a major planned capital project, presents challenges that are well beyond the realistic ability of the applicant hospitals,” the staff said.

“Therefore, it is the opinion of the HSCRC staff that neither hospital can prudently and successfully undertake the financing, construction, and successful operation of a new facility at this time.”