Merger Backgrounder

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Established in 1964, the Prince William Health System (PWHS) and Prince William Hospital are known for their commitment to the community and for providing essential healthcare services to Prince William County residents. Over the years, PWHS has made great strides in quality and access to care, but the area’s rapid population growth requires further expansion of healthcare services and facilities and recruiting highly qualified physicians to join their medical staff.

Prince William is one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S.—the population is expected to grow by more than 21 percent between 2005 and 2010. Increased community diversity and an aging population have also created the need for a more innovative and collaborative approach to healthcare delivery in Prince William County.

PWHS’s Search for a Strategic Partner
The community’s growth and its increasing healthcare needs have placed multiple demands on PWHS. Just keeping pace will require PWHS to make more than $150 million in capital investment, significantly increase the number of physicians and expand services.

PWHS’s Board of Directors—comprised of community volunteers who join in its mission to serve the community with quality health care—determined it needed to explore comprehensive partnership to achieve PWHS’s strategic objectives and address the county’s long-term healthcare needs. The Board established a number of criteria and objectives that potential partners needed to meet, including the following:

PWHS initially identified 22 potential partners, including both not-for-profit and for-profit entities. The PWHS Board never seriously considered an affiliation with a for-profit hospital out of concern for the community’s reaction and the ability to ensure a long-term commitment from its strategic partner to meet Prince William County resident’s needs.

Many entities did not express an interest in partnership. Others expressed interest in pursuing limited relationships for particular service lines, but not in implementing PWHS’s strategic plan. After studying several potential strategic partners, the Board concluded that a partnership with a regional health system was the most practical and feasible option for PWHS to pursue.

The Choice of Inova
After extensive review and deliberation, the PWHS Board determined that only Inova Health System fit the bill. On April 18, 2006, PWHS announced plans to merge with Inova, giving PWHS access to the leadership, staff, technology and other assets that are part of the world-class Inova system, but not available to stand-alone hospitals.

Inova has the ability—and immediately expressed its willingness—to invest more than $200 million to meet Prince William County’s healthcare needs. Inova has a record of keeping its promises, as evidenced by its record of delivering on a $200 million commitment to upgrade and expand Loudoun Hospital’s services following the completion of a merger in 2005.

By merging with Inova, PWHS will have the resources to build a patient bed tower with private rooms, replace medical-surgical capacity and redevelop other patient care support areas. PWHS will also be able to enhance cardiology services with a cardiac catheterization lab, enhance its critical care unit and improve infrastructure. By replacing outdated equipment with digital capability while providing an opportunity for adding service locations for outpatient convenience, Inova will enable PWHS to make technology improvements as well.

Inova will also attract more physician specialists to the area. A needs assessment showed that PWHS requires 60 more physician specialists to serve this area in the next three years. As another other added benefit, the merger will allow PWHS to increase the number of nurses and other personnel on staff.

After an extensive search and careful deliberation, the PWHS Board determined that Inova Health System was the best partner for PWHS. Together, PWHS and Inova Health System will ensure the highest-quality medical care is available for Prince William residents today and for future generations.