The Washington Adventist Hospital Land Use Committee (WAHLUC) said the Takoma Park City Council “blindsided” the panel and community by approving a WAH resolution with little notification the resolution was going before the Council.
In a council meeting May 31, the council approved a “Resolution Requesting Conditions in the Certificate of Need Application Filed by Washington Adventist Hospital to Relocate to White Oak in Proceeding Before the Maryland Health Care Commission, Docket No. 09-15-2295.” A notice announcing the Council’s meeting on the resolution was posted on the Takoma Park website on May 26.
The lead-time for the meeting “was very, very short,” said Dr. Troy Jacobs, WAHLUC member.
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The WAHLUC plans to discuss the resolution when it meets with the Council on June 13.
By not seeking public input on the resolution prior to the vote, “there was a breakdown in process here,” said WAHLUC Chairperson Anne Hollander at its June 6 meeting. “A lot of us are interested in these issues, and we didn’t recall having seen anything on the public agenda what stance the city council will take on this,” she said.
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A WAHLUC member reviewed the City Council meeting agendas for the last year, and there had been nothing “we’ve been able to ascertain in open session” in which the hospital’s “certificate of need” (CON) process is discussed, Hollander said. “That raised our eyebrows,” she said. “That sort of cuts the political process out of the discussion,” she said.
However, while Hollander said the Council erred by not requesting input prior to the vote, she also said the city council “took action in a way that this committee would support.” The points in the resolution “are things that we’ve (WAHLUC) all discussed and probably would support.”
Maryland’s Health Care Commission oversees the CON program, which is intended to ensure that new health-care facilities and services are developed in the state “only as needed.” If it is determined there such a need, that a facility is:
- The most cost-effective approach to meeting identified needs;
- Of high quality;
- Geographically and financially accessible;
- Financially viable; and
- Will not have a significant negative impact on the cost, quality, or viability of other health care facilities and services.
WAH has been pursuing a CON for its planned moved to White Oak in Montgomery County and it sought the support of the city council and the state District 20 Delegation, which have both issued letters in support of WAH’s CON.
