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Haymarket Hospital hearing is Thursday
The Virginia Department of Health will hold a hearing, today, June 17, to determine whether Haymarket should get a hospital.Doug Harris, the state's adjudication officer and advisor to the health commissioner, said on Tuesday that the hearing will be open to the public but attendees will not be allowed to speak.
“It's like watching something in court,” he said, though he added he tries to keep proceedings less formal than that.
Prince William Health System and Sentara Healthcare had both been hoping to build a hospital in Haymarket. Both had submitted proposals to state officials, knowing that only one -- if any -- would be accepted.
Prince William Health System won out. On April 19, the board of directors for the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia voted to recommend the PWHS plan over Sentara's.
Prince William Health System is a nonprofit that already runs Prince William Hospital , the Cancer Center at Lake Manassas, Heathcote Health Center and the Caton Merchant House assisted living facility.
The state officials noted the organization's existing facilities in the area as one of the reasons for picking PWHS over Sentara.
They also favored PWHS because, with the proposed transfer of 40 beds from Prince William Hospital, the new Haymarket project would only have a total of 20 new licensed medical surgical beds, a smaller bed increase than Sentara’s proposed 60 beds.
In addition, they noted that Haymarket Hospital is the first step in a multiphase master plan to renovate and modernize Prince William Hospital’s Manassas campus, and is the logical next step in the evolution and growth of hospital services in Haymarket.
The board also pointed out that the project is less costly, less disruptive to the current healthcare system, less threatening to neighboring services and in a better location than the competing Sentara proposal to develop a similar sized hospital.
Lastly, unlike the PWHS project, the Sentara hospital would not complement services and facilities now in place in western Prince William, Fauquier and Loudoun.
All told, board's decision to support Prince William Health System over Sentara was unanimous.
But that wasn't the end. The next step didn't go as well for the local team.
On May 5, health department staffers recommended denial of both proposals on the grounds that the area doesn't need another hospital.
Prince William Health System officials called that decision a “setback” in a statement posted on the organization's Web site, but vowed to keep fighting.
That wasn't the end either, though.
Harris said Tuesday that with one recommendation for approval and one for denial, the ball is now in his court.
As the adjudicator, Harris will essentially “judge” the Haymarket Hospital case. Officials will present evidence to Harris at the June 17 hearing.
Harris will consider all the facts and will then make his own recommendation to his boss, State Health Commissioner, Karen Remley.
Remley will then make a final decision. But that is still months away, Harris said, because the Haymarket proposal is just one of many applications from around the state up for adjudication and review.
Thursday's hearing begins at 10 a.m. at the State Corporation Building, 1300 E. Main St. in Richmond.
Donna Ballou, spokesperson for the Prince William Health System, said that while residents can attend to watch, they can help more by writing letters.
“The best way for people to register support is to go to our Web site and sign up or write letters,” she said.
The Prince William Health System's Haymarket Hospital page is at www.myhaymarkethospital.org.
Letters to the state can be emailed to Karen.Remley@VDH.Virginia.gov or mailed to Doug Harris, Adjudication Officer and Advisor to the Commissioner,
109 Governor St., 13th Floor,
Richmond, VA 23219.
The deadline to comment is June 30.
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