Inova Health System (stylized INOVA) is a
not-for-profit health organization based in
Falls Church, Virginia, near
Washington, D.C.
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The system is a network of
hospitals, outpatient services,
assisted living
An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is si ...
and
long-term care
Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and ...
facilities, and healthcare centers in the
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...
market.
The system's hospitals provide much of the healthcare needs for citizens in Northern Virginia, including the cities of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
,
Fairfax and
Falls Church and
Fairfax County
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria, Virginia, Alexandria and ...
and
Loudoun County
Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...
. The flagship hospital,
Inova Fairfax Hospital
Inova Fairfax Medical Campus is the largest hospital campus in Northern Virginia and the flagship hospital of Inova Health System. Located in Woodburn in Fairfax County, Virginia, Inova Fairfax Hospital is one of the largest employers in the co ...
, has been recognized as one of the best hospitals in the nation by
HealthGrades and ''
U.S. News & World Report''.
History
In the early 1950s, residents of
Fairfax County, Virginia perceived a need for a community hospital, as county residents were forced to travel to Arlington, Alexandria, or Washington D.C., to obtain hospital services and care. The Fairfax County Hospital Commission incorporated the Fairfax Hospital Association (FHA) in February 1956.
Five months after Franklin P. Iams took on the role of administrator in July 1958, construction of the $6 million
Fairfax Hospital began in November, and the hospital opened in February 1961. In 1976, the association took over the lease of Commonwealth Doctors Hospital in the
City of Fairfax and opened
Mount Vernon Hospital
Mount Vernon Hospital is located in Northwood, an area of north-west Greater London. It is one of two hospitals run by The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The hospital was founded as The North London Hospital for Co ...
in the southeastern portion of the county. The following year, the association opened an emergency care center, ACCESS (Ambulatory Care Center- Emergency Services System) in
Reston.
![INOVA Select Seconds storefront (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/INOVA_Select_Seconds_storefront_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Following the retirement of Franklin P. Iams, J. Knox Singleton became president of the Fairfax Hospital Association in 1984. The association took the Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Alexandria in August 1985, and opened the $27 million
Fair Oaks Hospital in June 1987, replacing Commonwealth Doctors Hospital, which was converted into a long-term care center.
The Fairfax Hospital Association began operating under the Inova name in 1987, but did not formally take on the Inova name until 1991, when its successor corporation Fairfax Hospital System became Inova Hospitals.
In March 1988, Inova opened the Cameron Glen Care Center nursing home in Reston; and merged with the nearly 125-year-old
Alexandria Hospital in July 1996. Inova opened the Inova HealthPlex, an
ambulatory care
Ambulatory care or outpatient care is medical care provided on an outpatient basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment, intervention, and rehabilitation services. This care can include advanced medical technology and proce ...
center, in the Franconia/Springfield area in April 2001.
In 2003, Inova laid off 113 of its 14,000 employees and considered moving Inova Mount Vernon Hospital in an attempt to cut costs.
In October 2004, the system merged with Loudoun Healthcare, adding the
Loudoun Hospital Center to its portfolio.
Mark S. Stauder became the chief operating officer of Inova Health Systems in September 2006.
Inova in June 2008 dropped its plans to merge with Prince William Health System, which ran the Prince William Hospital, following a legal challenge by the
Federal Trade Commission. Prince William Health System instead merged with
North Carolina-based Novant Health the following year.
In 2010, Inova sold its Cameron Glen Care Center and Commonwealth Care Center nursing homes to Northern Virginia Health Investors, a joint venture of Commonwealth Care of Roanoke and Smith/Packett Med-Com, which operated the facilities for a few years before building new ones in Sterling and Oakton.
Inova opened its second HealthPlex in the Lorton area in March 2013.
For a few years previous, health care provider
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser ...
had been moving away from referring its subscribers to Inova facilities, instead fostering relationships with
Reston Hospital Center Reston may refer to:
Places
* Reston, Florida, an unincorporated community in Florida, United States
* Reston, Lincolnshire, a parish in England
* Reston, Manitoba, a small community in southwestern Manitoba, Canada
* Reston Scar, a fell in Cumbria ...
in western Fairfax County and
Virginia Hospital Center
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...
in Arlington. Inova joined with
Aetna
Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...
to form a jointly owned health insurance company, Innovation Health Plans, in 2012. In 2013, Inova and Kaiser completely broke ties.
After several years of planning to expand into the field of
genomic medicine
Medical genetics is the branch
tics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the caus ...
, Inova announced in February 2015 that it had signed a 99-year lease with an option to buy for
ExxonMobil's 117-acre campus in
Merrifield, intending to use the property as the site for the Inova Center for Personalized Health, a facility to provide research, education and patient treatment through therapies tailored to the individual patient based on their genetics.
In 2016, Inova and the
University of Virginia Health System
The University of Virginia Health System is an academic health care center associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The health system includes a medical center (with main hospital, children's hospital, and clinic network), ...
announced an agreement to form a partnership between the two systems. This includes a regional campus of UVA at Inova Fairfax, the development of a Global Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Institute at the Inova Center for Personalized Health, and a research partnership between the cancer centers of the two facilities.
On April 9, 2018, J. Knox Singleton retired as CEO of Inova Health System naming J. Stephen Jones, MD as his successor.
On June 30th, 2020, Inova purchased
ExxonMobil's 117-acre campus in
Merrifield for $182.5 million.
Precision medicine
Through the Inova Center for Personalized Health, Inova has made notable investments in
precision medicine
Precision, precise or precisely may refer to:
Science, and technology, and mathematics Mathematics and computing (general)
* Accuracy and precision, measurement deviation from true value and its scatter
* Significant figures, the number of digi ...
.
In 2019, Inova stopped
pharmacogenomic
Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of the genome in drug response. Its name ('' pharmaco-'' + ''genomics'') reflects its combining of pharmacology and genomics. Pharmacogenomics analyzes how the genetic makeup of an individual affects the ...
testing after receiving a warning letter from the FDA.
References
External links
*
Innovation Health- Joint insurance venture between Inova Health Systems and Aetna
{{authority control
Healthcare in Virginia
Non-profit organizations based in Falls Church, Virginia
1956 establishments in Virginia
Organizations established in 1956
Medical and health organizations based in Virginia
Hospital networks in the United States