Competition is heating up in Central Virginia as Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare plans to expand into an area in which Bon Secours Mercy Health has a prominent presence.
Virginia's state department of health rejected two HCA certificate-of-need applications to build a hospital and a freestanding emergency facility in Hanover, Va., but accepted a third, separate application for an outpatient facility in June.
The decision gives HCA the greenlight to build a $21 million ambulatory surgery center with three operating rooms that it said will be the first piece of a larger hospital, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Construction is set to begin in 2026 and wrap up in 2027.
Cincinnati-based Bon Secours has accused HCA of trying to take away market share from its existing hospital in the area, but HCA argues that it is expanding access to care close to where its patients live and work.
"We are in the early stages of the planning process for the facility," A spokesperson for HCA told Becker's. "The surgical center would significantly benefit our patients by improving access to high-quality surgical services from their preferred health system at a location much closer to home."
HCA's future plans for the area include a 60-bed hospital, a freestanding emergency room, a second medical office building and a possible 90-bed hospital expansion, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The projects, which would need approval from state officials, are expected to take eight to 15 years to complete.
Bon Secours on Aug. 14 broke ground on a 10-bed, freestanding emergency facility in Hanover, a wealthy area of the state in which the population is growing, according to the report. Once open, ambulances can immediately transport patients needing inpatient care to Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center in Mechanicsville, Va., for direct admission, bypassing the hospital ED.
"These expanded emergency and imaging services will help to decompress high volumes on the main campus of our award-winning Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center while also improving medic reliability and emergency transport times for the Hanover community and beyond," John Emery, president of Bon Secours' Memorial Regional and Rappahannock General hospitals, said in a news release shared with Becker's.