Shortly after Prince George’s County officials chose a Largo site for their proposed regional medical center, developers launched apartments and retail projects across the street.
The projected 2017 opening date has been pushed back nearly three years as the state hospital board assesses the project and weighs whether to approve it.
The latest setback came in May, when the state health-care commissioner assigned to the project asked for design modifications that would scale back the hospital’s size and scope.
Commissioner Robert E. Moffit’s recommended changes include reducing the bed count and square footage and eliminating planned ambulatory care clinics. The modifications, he said, will better fit the needs of the regional health-care market and shave more than $100 million from the price of construction.
Dimensions Healthcare System and the University of Maryland Medical System — which are partners in the project — say they will submit a modified application by the end of the summer. But elected leaders such as County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) say Moffit’s demands could clash with their original vision of creating a teaching hospital large enough to attract and accommodate an influx of physicians and patients.
“The size is based on what the hospital is designed to do,” Baker said in an interview. “I just find it ironic that after five years that one individual can come up with cuts where no one else saw them. Remember, it’s not a hospital. It is a regional medical center.”
Business leaders are watching the developments carefully, said David Harrington, president of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce. He said he receives questions from members — particularly those poised to invest in Largo — worried about repeated delays in the project.
“My answer to them is, ‘Hang in there,’ ” Harrington said. “The hospital is happening. We feel very confident it will happen. The question is when.”
In addition to state approvals, there have been problems with funding. Baker and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) spent part of the past legislative session entangled in a dispute over how much money the state would put into propping up the transitioning health-care system while the hospital is built.
Eventually, Hogan agreed to the funding, and legislators later passed a law mandating specific allocations in future years.
Now, attention has shifted to the state regulatory process, one of the most complicated and extensive in the country.
Dimensions applied for the required “certificate of need” in October 2013. No project has been on the Maryland Health Care Commission’s docket for longer.
James R. Estepp, director of operations for the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable, said the business community’s optimism is bolstered by the number of top state Democrats supporting the hospital project, including House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert).
In addition, hospital backers note that Moffit, a Hogan appointee, signaled in his May 17 letter that the hospital is needed and the state is committed to its success.
“The fact is, investment will take place, and we will get the right growth in Largo,” Estepp said. “We are seeing a process that is being worked out. It has happened before, and it’s not the first time it’s been lengthy.”
Baker said that during a retail conference in Las Vegas last month, investors told him that they are not so much doubtful as they are eager to begin pushing forward on marketing for all the ancillary business the hospital is expected to generate.
County Council Chairman Derrick Leon Davis (D-Mitchellville), who represents the Largo area, said there are simply too many economic opportunities to pass up.
“I believe that the center part of the county represents the heartbeat of Prince George’s County,” Davis said. “A regional medical center that is geographically central, well thought out and well planned will pump vitality from the heart throughout the entire county.”
For backers of the project, a new hospital that also trains doctors is critical to changing long-held negative perceptions about health care in the county. For that reason, some supporters remain skeptical about the changes Moffit is proposing — even though he said those changes must be made for the project to win state approval.
“I think our goal and responsibility is to give Prince George’s the best regional medical facility that we can,” said Del. Tawanna P. Gaines (D-Prince George’s), who is vice chair of the Dimensions executive board. “You always want to take input, but we know far better the needs of residents. . . . We cannot fail the residents of Prince George’s County. They have been very patient.”
