Strong medicine for DePaul upgrade

Bon Secours' latest plan for DePaul Medical Center is far better than its first two and strong enough to earn the support of a skeptical Norfolk. Whether it can win the favor of the state health commissioner won't be known for months.

In the meantime, the organization's pledge to spend $5 million on the aging facility is a sure sign that the hospital has been allowed to deteriorate and that Bon Secours is newly dedicated to burnishing its reputation.

It is now up to Hampton Roads - and its doctors - to return the favor.

The new proposal would leave 124 beds at DePaul - down from 238 now - including 20 for obstetrics and 16 for intensive care. Bon Secours had originally proposed reducing DePaul to just 54 beds, which would have effectively left Norfolk with just one full-service hospital.

"Good negotiation has led to a good compromise," Jim English, president of the Wards Corner Civic League, told Pilot writer Nancy Young. "It's certainly a lot better than it was."

But it will take still more effort to make DePaul as good as it could be.

Bon Secours has dropped a controversial physician-ownership scheme, meaning it will have to rely on other means to attract doctors and their patients. Sentara Medical Group now employs 360 doctors; Bon Secours has said it wants to almost triple the number of physicians - now 40 - who work for the nonprofit.

Whatever the numbers, the key to Bon Secours' success lies in attracting insured patients and doctors to DePaul, something it has been having trouble doing in recent years. Part of that has been the deterioration of DePaul's facility; part, too, has been competition from other hospitals.

Bon Secours' $5 million promise will do much to improve DePaul until a new hospital can be built, and it's an especially strong commitment to a facility likely to lose $7 million this year.

The second part of Bon Secours' pitch to the state health commissioner is for permission to build smaller hospitals in both southern Virginia Beach and in northern Suffolk, growing communities with high-income residents.

The problem with the previous proposals: It seemed as if the Catholic charity were abandoning Norfolk for greener - and richer - precincts in the suburbs. The new proposal would move 90 of DePaul's beds to the Beach and 48 from Bon Secours' Maryview Medical Center to Suffolk.

Sentara last year received permission to construct a hospital at its Princess Anne campus; whether that burgeoning area can support two full-service facilities is a matter for the health commissioner to decide.

The same goes for northern Suffolk, where growth has been exploding the past decade. Both Sentara and Bon Secours have already planted flags in the area, and made significant investment in outpatient facilities. Whether the time has come to open a full-service hospital there - and the population growth argues that such a time is nearing - is a decision best left to Richmond.

However all that comes out, it appears now that Bon Secours has rededicated itself to its crucial mission in Norfolk, a welcome development and one all of Hampton Roads should embrace.