Three years after the Montgomery County Planning Board approved the move of Washington Adventist Hospital from Takoma Park to White Oak, the hospital system still waits for approval from the state.

Washington Adventist wants to build a bigger facility on a 48-acre plot near the Food and Drug Administration’s White Oak headquarters. Hospital administrators told the Washington Post that the current location doesn’t have enough private rooms. Narrow roads into the campus make it difficult for emergency vehicles and cars to share the street.

The new campus in White Oak would offer 249 private beds, a faith center and a lake for “natural healing.” 

The hospital is waiting on a decision from the Maryland Health Care Commission, a governor-appointed board of 15 citizens. The commission recently completed a series of evidentiary hearings in Baltimore where three nearby hospitals officially registered their opposition to the move. The next step is for the presiding commissioner, Randall Worthington, to issue a recommendation. 

Laurel Regional Hospital, located about six miles from the proposed hospital site, Montgomery General in Olney, about 10 miles away, and Holy Cross in Silver Spring, about seven miles south of the proposed site, have all become interested parties in the case, according to Paul Parker, acting director of the center for hospital services at the commission.

According to the Post, the hospitals are concerned that the new location would cut into their customer bases.

An interested party has the legal right to present during the hearings, to comment on the commissioner's recommendation, along with Washington Adventist. Both Washington Adventist and the interested parties may then comment on each other's comments. 

The full commission will take Worthington’s recommendation, comments from the four hospitals and other information about the case and render a decision. The entire process is likely to be lengthy, given the amount of material that has been submitted, Parker said. 

“We've got a lot of disagreement out there and it’s a major project,” Parker told Patch. 

There are supporters of the hospital’s move. County Executive Isiah Leggett issued a statement in August that tied the hospital’s move to economic growth in East Montgomery County. Last March, the East County Citizen’s Advisory Board wrote a letter in support of the move and Prince George’s County Councilmember Mary Lehman, who represents Laurel, told the Post that she is also in favor of the move.

“More access is better than less,” Lehman said.