Norfolk, Va. (July 2, 2007) – In a bold step to better respond to the region’s future health care needs, Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System, Inc., today announced an eight-year plan to establish a new model of health care in the region. The plan includes improving collaboration with physicians and enhancing the model of care to treat the underserved. The initiative includes creating three health care town centers, one each in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Suffolk. The plan also includes last Thursday’s announcement of an innovative partnership with Park Place Medical Center to create a “medical home” for Norfolk’s uninsured and underinsured. Certificate of Public Need (COPN) applications were filed with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Health Department today requesting permission to move forward with the three campuses.

“Health care providers need to listen to the residents and physicians in Hampton Roads,” said Richard A. Hanson, CEO of Bon Secours Hampton Roads. “We have a chance to really improve the health and wellness of our region, but it will require greater collaboration from all regional providers to address the underserved, viable health care choices that keep abreast of trends and a commitment to keeping costs affordable. These are the tenets of our new plan.”  

The Health Care Town Center
Bon Secours’ plan calls for replacing the region’s oldest hospital, Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk, with a new health care town center that will be located adjacent to the existing hospital building. The new, high-tech facility will have a full-range of out-patient services, including diagnostics, advanced CT and MRI imaging, and emergency services. The campus will also house a surgical center with six operating rooms and 54 beds for inpatient care.

In its COPN filing, Bon Secours requests that it be allowed to transfer 160 beds and 24 skilled beds currently licensed to Bon Secours DePaul to build similar health care town centers facilities in Virginia Beach and Suffolk. The town center concept allows people to stay in their own communities for the majority of their health and wellness services.

“The hospital of the future will be very different from the model of today,” said Hanson. “Over the past 20 years, our country has experienced a 300 percent increase in hospital-based services shifting to outpatient care. Our vision is to build hospital campuses for the future that are ultra focused on customer service and cutting edge technology with a full-array of diagnostic services. To achieve our vision, these hospitals will be customized for the communities they serve. This plan better utilizes the existing in-patient beds by placing them in areas in which

there are underserved populations, and the proposed model offers a lower cost structure for our community. By adding these Bon Secours hospitals and services in Virginia Beach and Suffolk, residents will have another health care choice dedicated to personal, compassionate care.”

In addition, the plan calls for collaboration with our physicians. “At Bon Secours, our medical staff are partners in the delivery of health care. We’ll continue to make every effort to work with them to ensure that our common goal of improving the health of the whole person and improving the health of our communities guides our decision-making,” added Hanson.

The proposed Virginia Beach hospital will be added to the new outpatient campus at Bon Secours Health Center at Virginia Beach. The facility will include 100 in-patient beds, a birthing center, a 24-bed skilled nursing facility, emergency department and advanced imaging and radiation therapy services. The hospital will also house a Surgical Center with six operating rooms. In Suffolk, Bon Secours proposes adding a 60-bed hospital to its outpatient campus, Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View. The hospital will include cardiac catheterization and radiation therapy added to its six operating rooms.  Bon Secours Maryview will continue to be developed as the local health system’s regional medical center.

Park Place Partnership
Separate from the COPN filing, Bon Secours announced last Thursday that it would enter an expanded partnership with Park Place Medical Center to create a new medical home for the 1,200 Bon Secours DePaul clinic patients. Located just a few blocks from Bon Secours DePaul, Park Place offers a full range of services associated with primary care, including treatment of chronic diseases, , medication assistance, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology. Historically, Bon Secours DePaul has been the largest provider of charitable care in Virginia as a percent of total charges.

“Bon Secours remains committed to addressing the needs of the underserved and uninsured. According to the most recent reports, 5.6 percent of Bon Secours DePaul patient charges are provided to individuals without a means to pay for their care,” Hanson said.

The state will announce its decision on the Bon Secours’ COPN project in December 2007. Bon Secours could open the new Bon Secours DePaul and Bon Secours Virginia Beach in 2010 and the new hospital in Suffolk in 2012.