The Maryland Health Care Commission unanimously awarded an eagerly sought open-heart surgery program to Suburban Hospital of Bethesda yesterday, after listening to arguments from three other Washington-area hospitals competing for the program.
The vote follows a report last month by one commissioner, Larry Ginsburg, who conducted hearings on the issue and concluded Suburban was the best choice.
Ginsburg told the commission yesterday that Suburban's existing offerings gave it a "strong foundation" for a successful cardiac surgery program.
Hospitals compete vigorously to get approval for open-heart programs - or to block their competitors from getting approval. The programs generate substantial revenue and profits on their own and help attract doctors and patients for other services by adding to the prestige of the hospital.
The decision is likely to be challenged in court. Barbara McLean, executive director of the commission, said, to the best of her recollection, every open-heart decision has faced a court challenge, but the courts have always upheld the regulators.
The commission - which limits the number of open-heart programs based on concerns for cost and quality - began studying whether and where new programs were needed more than two years ago.
Several Baltimore-area hospitals, principally St. Agnes Hospital, Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Anne Arundel Medical Center, pushed for a new program in the Baltimore region. But the commission decided it wasn't needed because programs existed at Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, and Union Memorial Hospital.
The commission decided, however that another program was justified in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. Currently, there are programs at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park and Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly, as well as five in the District of Columbia.
MedStar Health, the Columbia-based chain that owns two of the hospitals with programs in Washington, filed suit challenging the decision to open a new program. MedStar lost in Howard County Circuit Court; the case was argued yesterday before the Maryland Court of Appeals.
While the legal challenge proceeded, the commission began receiving and reviewing applications of the four Washington-area hospitals in September 2001.
Yesterday's hearing and vote is the final step in a process that included seven days of hearings, visits to hospitals and thousands of pages of documentation.
Ginsburg said he recommended Suburban because of a new teaching and research program (to be conducted with Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Institutes of Health); because of its outreach to minority communities, and because it would have the least negative impact on existing programs.
Also seeking the new Washington-area program were Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville and Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton.