A new Sentara Princess Anne Hospital will break ground in Virginia Beach later this year while the aging and financially ailing Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center remained in limbo after decisions by the state Thursday.
The state deputy health commissioner approved Sentara's hospital in fast-growing southern Virginia Beach and an expansion of its Suffolk hospital even as he rejected all three applications by Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System.
Bon Secours wanted to distribute DePaul's 238 beds among three new facilities: a new Virginia Beach hospital, a new hospital in northern Suffolk, and a smaller replacement for DePaul at its location on Granby Street in Norfolk.
Bon Secours is studying the decision to refine its renewed applications for the proposal, said Bon Secours spokeswoman Lynne Zultanky.
"While it is disappointing, we see this as a delay," Zultanky said. "We're asking the state to have faith in our vision."
Bon Secours officials have said a negative decision from the state could mean DePaul would have to be closed. The 64-year-old building is too old, too large and too expensive to run, they've said.
Thursday's news did not bring an announcement of a shutdown, but the facility is still in jeopardy.
DePaul was the only South Hampton Roads hospital to lose money in fiscal year 2006, according to Virginia Health Information, a nonprofit group that tracks the health care industry. It lost more than $3 million in the year that ended Aug. 31, 2006.
Bon Secours will continue seeking state approval for its plans, Zultanky said. A local public hearing should be held in late April, with a new decision expected from the state in the fall, she said.
Meanwhile, Sentara Healthcare officials celebrated the state's approval of a new 120-bed hospital in southern Virginia Beach and a 30-bed expansion of Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk.
The new Beach hospital, located at Sentara's Princess Anne outpatient center, will break ground later this year and is scheduled to open in 2011. Princess Anne will take the inpatient beds assigned to Sentara Bayside Hospital, which will become an outpatient center after the new facility opens.
Only about 40 percent of Bayside's licensed inpatient beds are typically occupied, and the facility already is used as more of an outpatient center, said Steve Porter, Sentara's vice president and administrator for the Bayside and Princess Anne facilities. Sentara also has two other hospitals within a few miles of Bayside: Virginia Beach General and Sentara Leigh Hospital in Norfolk.
The commissioner's decision was not perfect from Sentara's standpoint. It wanted approval for 158 beds in the hospital. Porter said that number is justified by the higher than expected use of Sentara Princess Anne's freestanding emergency department, which often sees between 150 and 160 patients a day - more than 50,000 total since the facility opened in September 2006.
"We're very appreciative of the state's decision, but we still feel 158 is an appropriate number," Porter said.
Sentara will try to design the building so that additional beds can be added at less expense if a future expansion is approved by the state, he added.
The obstacles facing Bon Secours are more daunting.
In the introduction to his decision, Dr. James Burns, the deputy state health commissioner, listed multiple reasons for rejecting the Catholic health system's plans. He called the $664 million plan too expensive and said it would result in unnecessary duplication of services. He also criticized the plan to replace DePaul with a 64-bed hospital.
"The three DePaul projects would effectively divide an existing acute care hospital, upon which many residents of Norfolk rely, and replace it with a facility in Norfolk of far smaller scope and curtailed service, thereby significantly reducing patient access to vital services," Burns wrote.
DePaul typically has one of the highest levels of charity care in South Hampton Roads, according to Virginia Health Information. About 14 percent of its expenses in fiscal year 2006 went to charity care and bad debt - both barometers of indigent care - plus taxes.
Zultanky said Bon Secours' plan responds to community desires for a choice of health care providers. Sentara now runs all general hospitals in Virginia Beach and Suffolk.
"The state's decision does not support what the public has asked for," she said.
Nancy Young, (757) 446-2947, nancy.young@pilotonline.com
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Bon Secours Ran DePaul Into the Ground
I have lived here long enough to remember when DePaul Hospital was THE HOSPITAL to go to in Norfolk. Norfolk General was a mess. They competed and look where they are today - Norfolk General is a major medical center and DePaul has been run into the ground. So now Bon Secours wants 3 new hospitals - so they can run them into the ground too?
My concern is not Sentara - they are doing fine - good for them. My concern is that Bon Secours can't seem to run a hospital otherwise DePaul wouldn't be in the mess it is today. Now they are crying unfair. The only thing unfair is that they have squandered one of the best hospitals in Norfolk.
DePaul gets denied
But did you know that DePaul has always had the option of building a new hospital on it's Norfolk campus, without needing approval from the state? DePaul can "right-size" it's hospital to meet the needs of the residents of Norfolk. No intervention from the state required. So, DePaul can still do the right thing by the residents of Norfolk and on it's own and build a new hospital on it's DePaul campus. The decision by the state has no impact on this option that DePaul has always had. Don't blame the state of Virginia for the financial state of DePaul!
The 800 lb Gorilla Strikes Again
I was surprised to see a featured comment on the home page with such clear support for Sentara. But, then it made more sense when, after clicking on the story, I saw the Optima ad (Sentara's insurance company). Look how many people have supported Bon Secours! And, a quote in support of Sentara was chosen? Way to represent public opinion. I would hope that the Pilot would represent the best interests of the region - maintaining and enhancing healthcare choice. Especially after the state demonstrated such favoritism. Bon Secours has been serving the community for more than 150 years. The new plan presented a financially viable approach that would allow them to continue serving the community - but instead, the state sought to protect our 800 lb gorilla (Sentara). It's still possible to get approval - I'm sure there is something we can do to express our concern to the state before they make another decision in the fall.
New Sentara hospital in Virginia Beach OK'd; Bon Secours denied
In this reported article by Ms. Nancy Young there is no mention that the State Health Commissioner, Dr. Karen Remley, is Dr. James Burns’s supervisor. Until recently and prior to her appointment as Commissioner Dr. Remley was Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sentara Leigh Hospital in Virginia Beach. Granted that she recused herself and delegated this decision to her subordinate, Dr. Burns, one can only wonder if the decision is really in the true and best interest of the citizens served by the Bon Secours health community providers. Is it?
Now what for tidewater's women
The best thing DePaul has going for it is their maternity care and midwifery center. They strongly encourage women to give birth as naturally as possible while providing for safeguards should they be necessary. They encourage family experiences. I had my daughter there and was not encouraged to seek drugs although I was told they were available should I decide I wanted them. I was allowed access to hot tubs, birthing balls, showers, a comfortable and spacious room, etc. to allow my body to work naturally. I was offered tremendous support from nurses and midwives. I was given time for my body to work naturally instead of being told I had to have a C-section because I had been in labor too long. My ENTIRE family was welcomed to witness the birth of my daughter. They didn't have to sit in some waiting room. We all welcomed her into our world. It's a shame people don't see the value of this facility and their professionals.
No One Mentioned Optima and the Doctors
Yes Sentara owns Optima and has over 300 doctors employeed.
??
Why are we using promotional materials off of Sentara's website to prove a point, as though it would be objective. It's either Sentara, of ir you want a children's hospital it's Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters that's all I'm saying. And it does look like a monopoly, for example Summa Health Care system is a big player in Ohio, as is Premier Health Partners. Just seems like the same few companies owning a lot of hospitals, that's all.
The David and Goliath battle in Hampton Roads
When I first arrived in Virginia Beach, I had to take my daughter to the emergency room at Virginia Beach General Hospital. I thought very highly of the hospital and always recommended it to anyone who got sick. Then Sentara took over and ruined the experience and the hospital for me. The wait time in the emergency room tripled, the service turn from friendly attitude and helpfulness to an I don't have time for you just take this and leave. I know they turned a very good hospital with good nurses and doctors into a place people hated. Now when I get sick and can't get to my doctor, I only go to Patient First. I can't stand Sentara hospitals, attitude and services. I hope while I'm still in Virginia I never get too ill and have to stay at any of their hospital.
Sentara has brought more than the remaining hospital in the area they have brought the deciding people also. It’s a shame this beautiful city is being controlled by corporations instead of the people it suppose to serves.
A HISTORY LESSON...
For those who are unaware: St. Vincent DePaul Hospital opened over 150 years ago by Catholic nuns of the Daughters of Charity order. Their primary mission at that time was treating the victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic. Over the years their focus on serving the poor and downtrodden is well documented. No one can debate that, to this very day, they serve more indigent patients than any other hospital in Hamptons Roads. That the state would reject their latest plan to improve patient services to Hampton Roads only serves to confirm the old axiom - No good deed goes unpunished.
Thank you DePaul, thank you Daughters of Charity, thank you Bon Secours..., now the state of virginia would prefer it if you would just go away quietly....
Read the article again...
Bon Scours said that De Paul lost money for 2006. They didn't lose it due to mismanagement. As the article states, they lost it due to De Paul being 60+ years old, too big and too expensive to run. That's why they are threatening to close it. When a school gets to be too old and costly to run, the city will close it. When a ship gets too old, the Navy decommissions it. What's the difference? It's not "strong arm tactics", it is good business sense.
Why is our government involved in this anyway?
Why in the world do they need "approval" from some government entity to build a hospital? DePaul is in a facility too large for them to support. They want to replace it with something reasonable, and they're told that it would limit access to "vital services," even though those services AREN'T BEING USED. And the new facilities would provide "unnecessary duplication of services"? Competition lowers prices! Maybe we'd better close every Burger King within a block of a McDonald's because they both sell burgers!
Birthing Center
My family's number one concern for expecting parents of Hampton Roads is the birthing center located at Depaul Hospital. It's my "understanding", that with the Depaul's loss of the Princess Anne facility, our area may soon be without a birthing center.
This is a great concern. Not only did my wife and I have the best birthing experience at Depaul hospital, she now teaches childbirth education classes. Our concern with Sentara is the company seems to have no plan to offer a birthing center to those families seeking an alternative to medicated births or planned cesarean sections. The one chance families like mine had to keeping a financially funded birthing center was with Depaul winning this bid.
Sentara saved a life?
No way. Sentara does not save lives, doctors do.
Sentara in Princess Anne/South Virginina Beach
Awesome to have a hospital coming to South Virginia Beach. As for the monopoly question, I want a monopoly of the best healthcare for myself and my family, I want the best doctors, technology, nurses, and I want it close. I don't care who the monopoly is, I just want a monopoly on being THE BEST HEALTHCARE. That's what I see when I see what Sentara has done over the past 40 years for the Tidewater area. Given the choice to go where I want over the past 40 years, I can't think of any illness/disease that I would have chosen a BonSecours hospital over a Sentara hospital for me or my family/loved ones. If I'm having a heart attack, or one of my loved ones has a cancer, the choice is only who is the best HealthCare provider, glad we have a best HealthCare provider!
So keep up the drive for remaining the best HealthCare Sentara, if you don't, then I'll drive across the water, or out of state for those serious illnesses. Until then hooray for a hospital in South Virginia Beach, and hooray for THE BEST HEALTHCARE in Tidewater.
Amazing?
How many of you have had your life saved by services that Sentara provided to you? When you do, your tune will change. Most of you are so negative toward Sentara it is disturbing to me. Monopoly? Not quite. There is still plenty of competition around. Make money? Sure, they lose money too. Medicaid doesn't pay what it costs ANY hospital system to provide care. DePaul is losing money huh? And they will close if they don't get their way? Hey, that's who I want to open a facility near me - a company that knows how to lose money and tries to use stong arm tactics.
As for the comments about the hours the nurses work - it's simple - there are not enough of them to go around. No matter who was here, you would see the same problem.
I personally would like to have a company that knows how to run their business successfully (make enough to invest in providing better care and provide better patient care) near me. It seems to me that Sentara knows how to do this or they wouldn't be as successfull as they are.
Sentara does not have quality health care and should not be allo
No single corporation should be allowed to have a monopoly especially when it comes to human life - the most precious gift of all. What group of humans has the right to decide who gets only one type of health care. First, Sentara has a lot of great, caring staff members; but, they are overworked and not respected enough. From all my experices with Sentara and they have been many, Sentare sucks. They do not treat their staff, including many doctors, with any kind of respect or proper pay. They are overworked and understaffed. I have seen many a nurse work a double shift on different floors. How can you give any kind of proper care when you have been awake and on your feet for twenty-four plus hours. I have known plenty of workers that Sentara says are "part-tme, temps" work 40 to 80 hours a week, week after week after week, year after year, and never see any benefits They do not give their patients proper, timely care. An average of 6 hours in an ER before you even see a doctor. And the maternity wards are a joke. One new mother was told, while in labor, to "come back later and call first (in about six hours) to see if there were any open beds". Another mother delivered h
"Not For Profit" far from "Non Profit"
Civic Leader, check your sources before you start making assertions. Sentara is a not for profit organization, not a non profit. The huge difference is that not for profit organizations can and DO make profits. Sentara does a lot of great things in the community; however, they are definitely in business to make money.
Strange thing is, it only takes a taxi and a $5 bill to transport a patient from Norfolk Sentara's emergency room to the front steps of Depaul. Interesting that they're the only ones losing money.
So far this decision seems a bit lopsided.
Sentara's New Hospital
You don't expect Sentara to release their grip on their monopoly....do you? Virginia Beach city council opened and applauded that decision when Sentara purchased Virginia Beach General Hospital. We're trapped by the monopoly and the bureaucracy....Sentara and Virginia beach city council. "VOTE THE BUMS OUT"
Welcome to Tidewater
Owned and operated by Sentara. VB council sold out to the sentara machine with VB general. Bayside sold out to sentara. Now we get another sentara hospital. Sure sounds like a monopoly to me. Humm.....didn't VB council sell a city park to sentara? Didn't sentara tell VB council they could not build a sports clinic? Who is in charge?
The right choice!!!
I feel sorry for you Sentara Bashers out there, who fail to realize how right of a choice this actually is. Sentara has always been there to help the community and not its own pockets as most believe. Throughout Sentara's long history, it has invested back into the community. I am sure most of you anti-Sentara people dont want to believe this, so I am providing a link to help educate you.
http://www.sentara.com/Sentara/AboutSentara/FastFacts/home.htm
Not only has Sentara invested in the community but also in their facilities using the most advanced technologies. The latest being E-Care which was blown up all over the local news and newpapers. Along side everthing that Sentara has done for the community, it is local entity unlike Bon Secours. If you were the state who would you choose? A struggling out of state healthcare provider or a state grown provider that has demonstated time and time again it's stability and investments in the community. What has Bon Secour provided to the community? Nothing that is comparable to what Sentara has done as a non profit organization. This is the right move...