Haymarket Hospital Site Runs into Problems

In April, I began covering the plans to build a hospital in Haymarket, Va. Both Prince William Hospital System (PWHS), a Novant company, and Sentara Health Care were competing to build a hospital in Western Prince William County. The Prince William plan was approved unanimously by the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia in April, while the Sentara application was denied. Sentara Health Care withdrew their application after this decision.

The residents of the Gainesville/Haymarket area have been extremely supportive of Prince William Hospital System’s decision to build a hospital in their community, with the commute times and population growth being their main concerns. The proposed Prince William Hospital in Haymarket is designed to support and supplement the services provided by the existing Prince William Hospital at Heathcote, which is considered one of Virginia’s safety-net hospitals. This hospital site also has the support of State Senator Chuck Colgan (D-Manassas), Delegate Jackson Miller (R-Manassas), Manassas Mayor Harry Parrish, Prince William County Sheriff Glen Hill, and others.

Fast forward to June, the Commonwealth of Virginia is now deciding the fate of Prince William Hospital System’s application to build a hospital in Haymarket. Right now, the fate is not looking too good for PWHS, as the Division of Certificate of Public Need (COPN) recommended that the State Health Commissioner, Karen Remley, deny PWHS’ application to build. Why would the Division of COPN stand in the way of the proposed hospital? The staff director in the COPN division has questions based on the area’s population growth and does not think that the transportation problems warranted a hospital.

Drive times are another concern and are among the top criteria in deciding whether to build a new hospital. For someone going to the nearest hospital in Manassas (Prince William Hospital), it takes anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour to get to the hospital. This is particularly critical, especially if there is a life-threatening emergency that requires immediate attention. DCOPN makes the claim that hospitals in Northern Virginia are already under utilized but when you look at very specific data. That is a broad brush overview of the region. When you examine the data specifically in Prince William County, it is the second largest County in the planning district with 20% of the population, yet it only has 12% of the available hospital bed space. This presents an obvious problem for one of Virginia’s fastest growing counties.

It appears that there is a disconnect between Richmond and the rest of the state. How would the COPN Division know what is best for the residents of Western Prince William County?

This will be one of the first COPN applications that will be reviewed under the McDonnell administration. While the final decision rests with the Health Commissioner, the Governor and HHR Secretary Bill Hazel should remind Commissioner Remley of the challenges that NOVA residents face everyday because of serious traffic congestion before any final decisions are made. The COPN regulations provide flexibility to the Health Commissioner regarding the criteria considered in this process. The criteria include: the recommendation of a local health planning agency, community support, and local travel times to hospitals exceeding 30 minutes.

The final decision was to be made by June 30; however, because of the high volume of COPN applications, it may be delayed by a few months into the fall.