Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare has submitted its third application to build a medical facility in Hanover County, Va., according to a May 18 report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Last year, the Virginia State Health Commissioner denied HCA's application to build a $234 million hospital and an emergency room.
HCA has now submitted a certificate of public need for a $21 million outpatient surgery center but is being met with pushback for the third time by rival health system Bon Secours.
Marriottsville, Md.-based Bon Secours believes a new Virginia facility would be "an undeniable play to expand HCA’s footprint north of the James River," and would take patients away from Bon Secours’ nearby hospital, Memorial Regional Medical Center.
Both health systems have tried to build facilities in Hanover. The Virginia Department of Health is expected to issue an opinion to HCA next week.
If the state approves the plan, HCA subsidiary Middle Virginia Surgicenter will build a three-room ASC.
Instead of building new operating rooms, HCA would move them from Retreat Doctors’ Hospital and Henrico Doctors’ Hospital.
Bon Secours has accused HCA of simply trying to take away market share from its existing hospital in the area.
The health department will consider Bon Secours' stance and consider if the new ASC would hurt any existing facilities when making its decision, according to the report.
"Bon Secours’ distaste for that fact, however, does not make it untrue," Thomas Stallings, a lawyer for HCA, told the Times. "Bon Secours’ criticisms of Middle Virginia Surgicenter’s projections are meritless."