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Agency: No new hospital needed

As two hospitals approach capacity, the state says no new facility is needed in southeastern Hillsborough.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published July 1, 2005

RIVERVIEW - Almost 87 percent of the beds at Brandon Regional Hospital are full.

At South Bay Hospital, the numbers are nearly 81 percent.

Even though the hospitals are approaching capacity, the state Agency for Health Care Administration has determined that southeastern Hillsborough residents do not need another hospital.

If patients can't find care at the two local hospitals, the agency said in a decision last month, they can drive to hospitals in Tampa or Plant City.

"Although utilization at Brandon Regional and South Bay is high and has been for the past five years ... utilization of other facilities within 30 miles of the proposed sites is not," reads the decision, which rejected two dueling proposals for new hospitals in Riverview.

"There is no evidence that residents in the proposed service area ... are unable to access needed services within the subdistrict within reasonable time frames."

Both St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa and HCA Healthcare Inc., a Nashville company that owns South Bay Hospital, had applied to AHCA for "certificates of need" to open new hospitals in Riverview. St. Joseph's planned a $120-million, 90-bed acute care facility, while HCA proposed a $111-million, 80-bed acute care facility. Both were proposed for the intersection of Old Big Bend Road and Simmons Road. If both had been approved, they would have faced each other across the street.

To open new inpatient facilities, hospitals must prove that a need exists, and that a new hospital would not undercut an existing facility's business.

In their proposals, both companies argued that rampant growth in the area, where population has jumped roughly 70 percent in the past 10 years, would make a new hospital necessary.

In St. Joseph's case, the not-for-profit hospital bought land in Riverview and in Lutz in the 1980s, foreseeing a population explosion in those areas, said Lisa Patterson, a hospital spokeswoman.

The hospital obtained a certificate in August 2002 allowing it to start work on the Lutz facility, Patterson said. Ironically, that facility was one of the reasons why the state did not see sufficient need for new hospitals in Southeast Hillsborough.

Noting that existing hospitals can expand without applying for a new certificate of need, the agency wrote: "It is likely that existing facilities and the new facility approved for St. Joseph's will utilize this ability to accommodate population growth."

As for the population growth in Southeast Hillsborough, AHCA said that statistics showed that "the total county population has grown at approximately the same rates as that of the district and the state."

"While it is clear that some growth has occurred and likely will occur in this area, it is not clear that this growth will be such that it will outpace the ability of existing subdistrict facilities to accommodate it with the addition of beds," the decision stated.

AHCA also said that new hospitals in the Riverview district would cut into the livelihood of Tampa General Hospital, which filed a "letter of opposition" to both plans.

Tampa General's letter "contends that there is no need for another acute care hospital in this area as driving times from the proposed sites to the existing hospitals range from under 10 minutes to 30 minutes," AHCA reported.

The state agency seemed to agree, quoting from Tampa General's letter many times throughout the decision and concurring that, "Any impact on Tampa General Hospital as a result of the proposed project would likely be negative."

A spokesman from Tampa General said the hospital would not comment on the AHCA's decision or the proposed Riverview hospitals.

Once AHCA publishes its decision this month, the two hospitals will have 21 days to appeal to the state Division of Administrative Hearings. Patterson said St. Joseph's has not yet decided whether to do so.

"It's a costly thing to do," she said. "It would be quite an investment to go through the appeal process."

No spokesperson from HCA could be reached by press time.

S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 30, 2005, 09:09:07]