While most medical news these days focuses on the pandemic, Northern Virginia’s health professionals haven’t taken their eyes off of making sure all ailments are treated.
Virginia Hospital Center
1701 N. George Mason Drive, Arlington
What’s New: A $250 million expansion at its Arlington campus
Construction workers are as common a sight at Virginia Hospital Center as doctors and nurses these days, as crews have been working on the first expansion to the facility in nearly 20 years. The $250 million project includes adding a parking garage and an outpatient facility with services such as physical therapy, surgery, pharmacy, imaging, endoscopy, lab and administrative offices. The expansion will open up space at the main hospital facility, which has been at capacity, and will allow the hospital to meet the needs of the growing community.
Once the construction project is completed, the process will begin to move the outpatient services to the new facility while also reworking the original center to include more inpatient care by expanding the emergency department and adding beds.
Expected Completion Date: Garage 2021/Outpatient Facility 2022
3000 Potomac Ave., Alexandria
What’s New: The opening of the Alexandria Medical Center
As a part of its expansion into Northern Virginia, Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States opened the 40,000-square-foot Alexandria Medical Center in April 2019.
With a focus on primary and specialty care, the center offers a variety of services, including women’s health, physical therapy, optometry and adult and pediatric care. Because many NoVA residents have busy lives, the facility has been set up as a one-stop medical center featuring radiology, pharmacy and laboratory services. Located in the Potomac Yard area, the facility, Kaiser’s first in Alexandria, shares a space with the headquarters for the National Industries for the Blind. Officials note the medical center was needed due to Kaiser Permanente’s rapid growth and demand for its integrated approach to care delivery, which combines health care and coverage in one package.
In an effort to improve the health of the communities where its members live and work, the provider has also invested $4.7 million to increase access, making sure underinsured individuals in the Alexandria area get the care they need.
Completed: April 2019
Inova
8110 Gatehouse Road, Falls Church
What’s New: Multiple developments, including a HealthPlex in Alexandria, a new hospital in Springfield and a proton therapy center
Inova has a number of projects in the works at various stages of development. After a comprehensive survey of the communities served in the eastern region of Northern Virginia, the nonprofit health care provider announced two new additions in an effort to address community needs and to support efforts to continuously improve health care delivery.
With the planned development around the new Amazon headquarters in National Landing, Inova officials in March announced plans to build an Inova HealthPlex as part of the redevelopment of Alexandria’s Oakville Triangle neighborhood. The facility will fall under the umbrella of Inova Alexandria Hospital and will include an emergency room, multi-use outpatient care center and medical offices. The goal of the facility, which is set to be the anchor tenant of the HealthPlex, is to expand Inova’s services into the eastern region of Northern Virginia.
Hospital administrators also announced plans for a new hospital in Springfield to be located adjacent to the Inova HealthPlex — Franconia-Springfield on a recently acquired property. Still in the planning stages, the hospital’s size, bed capacity and specific programming have not been announced yet.
Additionally, the Inova Mather Proton Therapy Center opened in March. Located at the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, a department of Inova Fairfax Hospital, the facility is the first proton therapy treatment center in Northern Virginia. The center uses pencil beam scanning (known as proton delivery), which is an advanced form of radiation therapy for cancer patients, as well as patient imaging and positioning systems for treatment.
Expected Completion Date: The first buildings in the HealthPlex are expected to open in 2023. No opening date has been announced yet for the hospital in Springfield; the Inova Mather Proton Therapy Center opened March 2020.
Children’s National Hospital
111 Michigan Ave. NW, Washington, DC
What’s New: A new Research & Innovation Campus in DC
With 2020 marking the 150th anniversary of Children’s National Hospital, the health care provider will mark the occasion by opening up a one-of-a-kind pediatric and research innovation campus.
Located on a nearly 12-acre portion of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in DC, the facility’s goal is to accelerate new medical discoveries designed to save and improve children’s lives. Hospital researchers will be working with public and private partners to discover new treatments and technologies benefiting kids.
Thus far, two collaborations within the Research & Innovation Campus have been announced. Working with Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Children’s National will launch JLABS @ Washington, DC. The 32,000-square-foot site will serve as a development space for companies in the fields of pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health technology. Virginia Tech will also be a collaborator: The two institutions are pairing up to open a 12,000-square-foot biomedical research facility focusing on new drug development, software applications and medical devices for treatments for cancer, rare diseases and other disorders.
Expected Completion Date: End of 2020
Novant Health UVA
8700 Sudley Road, Manassas
What’s New: A second cardiac catheterization lab and a robot-assisted joint replacement technique at Prince William County Medical Center
This year, the Prince William Medical Center, part of Novant Health, received two noteworthy updates.
After launching its first cardiac catheterization laboratory in 2011, the health care provider recently opened a second one to meet the region’s growing need for heart and vascular services. With state-of-the-art imaging technology, the lab focuses on coronary artery, vascular and electrophysiology procedures.
Over the next decade, the need for joint replacements among the growing elderly population is expected to increase. The center recently became one of the first hospitals in the NoVA area to offer robotic-arm-assisted total knee and partial knee replacements with Stryker’s Mako System. This technology changes the way joint replacement surgery is performed by allowing surgeons to have a more predictable surgical experience with increased accuracy.
Completed: February 2020
Mary Washington Hospital
1001 Sam Perry Blvd., Fredericksburg
What’s New: Expansion of the hospital’s behavioral health acute care facility
The need for behavioral health services has always been great but may be more so now as folks are suffering from the isolation, stress and anxiety caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The hospital recently opened an expansion of its private behavioral health acute care facility. With the construction of 20 acute care mental health inpatient beds, the facility was able to expand to hold a total of 74 beds and increase their ability to serve a growing population of vulnerable patients.
The hospital provides inpatient, outpatient and emergency services for those with mental health and/or substance abuse needs.
The adult partial hospitalization program provides group therapy for adults ages 18 and up to address issues such as depression, inability to function in daily life, anxiety and self-injury behaviors. The intensive outpatient program aims to build on the 12-step model for chemical abuse recovery while promoting social connectivity, healthy eating and sleeping habits and involvement in recreation and hobbies, along with personal accountability and respect.
If there is an emergency, the facility is open seven days a week for urgent care, stabilization, assessment and referral for those in critical situations.
Completed: August 2020
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center
2300 Opitz Blvd., Woodbridge
What’s New: Aquablation therapy
Benign prostatic hyperplasia, a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate, affects about 90% of men by the age of 85. While there are different procedures to treat the condition, aquablation therapy is the only one that allows patients to keep sexual function intact.
Using the Aquabeam System, the procedure involves using a robot-controlled water jet to remove the enlarged prostate tissue. The minimally invasive treatment pairs real-time, multi-dimensional imaging with surgical robotics and a heat-free water jet for targeted, precise and safe removal of prostate tissue.
In May 2018, Sentara was one of the first medical facilities in the nation to pilot the program, which they fully integrated a year later. With an expansion of their urology services, they remain the only hospital in the National Capital Region doing this procedure.
Completed: May 2019
This story originally appeared in the December issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly print magazine.
