Inova Health System (stylized INOVA) is a
not-for-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
health organization based in
Falls Church, Virginia
Falls Church is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Wash ...
, near
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The system is a network of
hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
s, outpatient services,
assisted living and
long-term care facilities, and healthcare centers in the
Northern Virginia 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, Alexandria ...
,
Fairfax
Fairfax may refer to:
Places United States
* Fairfax, California
* Fairfax Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California
* Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California, centered on Fairfax Avenue
* Fairfax, Georgia
* Fairfax, Indiana
* Fa ...
and
Falls Church
Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area.
Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Churc ...
and
Fairfax County
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...
and
Loudoun County. 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 cou ...
, 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
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...
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 Cons ...
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 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
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
. 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 P ...
had been moving away from referring its subscribers to Inova facilities, instead fostering relationships with
Reston Hospital Center 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 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
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
'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 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
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
'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.
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