Suburban Hospital is close to applying for a certificate of need from the state to build its long-planned 235,000-square-foot addition at the 8600 Old Georgetown Rd. site.
According to the Washington Business Journal, Suburban was among a batch of hospitals to have letters of intent for expansion or relocation filed on Friday with the Maryland Health Care Commission.
The Commission reviews all major hospital expansion and relocation plans in the state to determine if the projects merit a certificate of need.
The process is intended to make sure new health care services and facilities are developed only as needed.
Suburban, which for years has fought neighbors of the hospital who are against the expansion, says the hospital is in need of its first major clinical expansion since 1979.
The existing 323,100-square-foot building would be combined with the new addition by removing hospital-owned houses on Lincoln Street, the two-story administrative building and garage and replacing those with a four-story building and new 1,125-space garage.
In April, the hospital got important approvals of its preliminary and site plans from the Montgomery County Planning Board. The Huntington Terrace Citizens Association is against the expansion because of anticipated noise and traffic problems.
The Health Care Commission reviews certificate of need applications based on medical needs: cost-effectiveness, quality of care, geographic access to care and financial access to care, according to its website.
The full application is due Oct. 4. The Health Care Commission has no set amount of time for making rulings on certificate of need applications.
