FAQs
1. Does Broadlands and Eastern Loudoun County need another hospital?
No, by every calculation the health care needs of Eastern Loudoun County residents are being met by hospitals close to where they live. The BRMC is not needed.
Broadlands residents live less than 5 miles from Inova Loudoun Hospital. Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and HCA's Reston Hospital, just across the county line in Fairfax County, are also minutes away. In fact, Reston Hospital's recent expansion was largely in response to population growth in Loudoun County.
2. Are there areas of Loudoun County without adequate access to a hospital or other health care facilities?
Access to health care services in Loudoun County depends on where you live.
Many Loudoun County residents live within 20 minutes of a hospital. This is particularly true in Eastern Loudoun, where hospital care is a short drive away.
In contrast, Loudoun residents living in the southern and western parts of the county lack sufficient access to hospitals and health care facilities. Many living in these parts of Loudoun live as much as 35 minutes away from a hospital, in part because there are no hospitals west of Leesburg.
3. What is the Loudoun Comprehensive Plan and what role does it play in determining the location of hospitals in the county?
The Board of Supervisors developed a Comprehensive Plan to address growth, traffic, land use and heath care issues in one of America's fastest growing counties. The health care plan looked at a number of factors - anticipated population growth, access and travel times to medical-care services, among others - to assess the county's current and future healthcare needs. The Plan is the foundation for the Board of Supervisors' decision-making on many issues, including where the next Loudoun County hospital should be built.
4. What does the county's Comprehensive Plan say about the next Loudoun hospital?
The county plan states that the Route 50 corridor "should be given special consideration for the next full-service hospital and EMS ambulance-receiving facility to be built in the county." The Plan also calls for "development of a new hospital in the Dulles South area of the county, which is experiencing rapid population growth and which presently has poor access to any hospital."
HCA's proposal for zoning at Broadlands was not included in the county's Comprehensive Plan.
5. Why should I oppose the BRMC in Broadlands?
Loudoun residents, businesses and organizations should oppose the Broadlands Regional Medical Center (BRMC) for the following reasons:
- Loudoun County should stick to its Comprehensive Plan. Loudoun County has an approved Comprehensive Plan in place. The Board of Supervisors needs to stick to their plan and prevent a single project in Broadlands from overturning the county's comprehensive planning efforts.
- Approval of the BRMC will have a dramatic and adverse impact on Loudoun's existing health care infrastructure. Placing two hospitals with duplicative services four miles apart in a county of 517 square miles exceeds current demand for health care services in that location and will cause both facilities to struggle. Developing the BRMC will also forestall plans to build a third hospital on Route 50 for the foreseeable future and preclude further expansion of facilities in Leesburg.
- The next Loudoun hospital belongs on the Route 50 corridor, where it's wanted and needed. The county Plan identifies the Route 50 corridor as the location for the next new hospital in the county. Approving Broadlands violates this commitment and is a vote against the current and future needs of the Route 50 corridor.
6. How would the BRMC negatively impact health care in the county?
The BRMC would have negative and long-lasting impact on Loudoun's current and future health care infrastructure. Broadlands is already well-served by Inova Loudoun Hospital. Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and HCA's Reston Hospital are also just minutes away in neighboring Fairfax County. Building another hospital-with duplicative services-just four miles from ILH in a county of 517 square miles exceeds current demand for health care services and will cause both facilities to struggle. This will impede the development of specialty services that require a robust volume of procedures and repetition.
The BRMC will also forestall plans for Loudoun's next hospital on Route 50 and further expansion of facilities in Leesburg and other locations--a major blow to areas in need of additional health care facilities.
7. What actions have the Planning Board and the Board of Supervisors previously taken on the BRMC?
This is the second time the BRMC has come up for a vote. The Broadlands proposal was previously denied by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors on more than a dozen points of zoning law.
HCA's proposal for the BRMC in Broadlands was not called for in the county's health care plan. Despite this, the proposal is back again, and the county's plan-not to mention the future of health care in Loudoun-are now in jeopardy.
8. How can I support the effort to oppose the BRMC and bring the next Loudoun hospital to Route 50?
Loudoun residents can get involved in this issue by doing any or all of the following;
- Visit www.nextloudounhospital.com sign an online petition, register for information and learn more about the issue.
- Write or call your Supervisor and urge them to vote against the BRMC
- Sign a petition opposing the BRMC.
- Distribute information to your community and urge others to get involved
- Attend the upcoming Planning Commission public hearing and voice your opposition to the BRMC development.
October 15, 2008
6:00 PM
Eagle Ridge Middle School
42901 Waxpool Road
Ashburn, Virginia 20148