Marriottsville, Md.-based Bon Secours Health System edged out Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Healthcare in a race to expand hospital services in northern Suffolk (Va.), according to The Virginian-Pilot.
Within days of each other, Bon Secours and Sentara Healthcare filed applications with the Virginia Department of Health seeking permission to add or move beds to their Suffolk campuses.
Bon Secours Health System sought to add 18 beds and four operating rooms to its Harbour View campus through the construction of a two-story, 76,000-square-foot addition.
Sentara submitted a request to move beds from its Suffolk-based Sentara Obici Hospital to Sentara BelleHarbour campus in northern Suffolk.
While Bon Secours received preliminary approval from Virginia regulators for its proposal to add beds, state regulators recommended denial of Sentara's request.
State regulators said Sentara's request would duplicate the services available in the district and could be "harmful to competition in the region," according to The Virginian-Pilot.