Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala., is appealing a circuit court ruling that blocked the hospital's relocation plans, according to a Birmingham News report.
In 2008, Trinity filed an application to spend $280 million to buy and complete an unfinished hospital off an Alabama highway. The state Certificate of Need Review Board approved the plan in September 2010. Last week, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Jimmy Pool reversed that decision. He said regulators erred in their 2010 approval because occupancy at Trinity's current location is too low, and hospital beds in Jefferson County exceed state guidelines.
Judge Pool's decision was linked to the State Health Plan, which includes detailed rules for hospitals that want to build or move to replacement facilities. One specific requirement is the "60 percent occupancy rule," which requires a hospital with an occupancy rate below 60 percent to reduce the number of licensed beds to a point where the occupancy rate is at least 60 percent before it can replace its existing hospitals. Trinity's current occupancy rate is 44.8 percent, according to the court document.
Judge Pool also factored a 1990 state Supreme Court case, Ex parte Shelby Medical Center, into his decision. That decision reversed regulators' CON approval because Jefferson County already had 373 more hospital beds than needed. Today, the county has 1,510 more beds than needed.
Attorneys representing Trinity have said the ruling is "a complete misapplication of the process." They intend to argue that Judge Pool erred by substituting his own judgment for that of regulators, whose opinions are supposed to receive deference under Alabama law.
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In 2008, Trinity filed an application to spend $280 million to buy and complete an unfinished hospital off an Alabama highway. The state Certificate of Need Review Board approved the plan in September 2010. Last week, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Jimmy Pool reversed that decision. He said regulators erred in their 2010 approval because occupancy at Trinity's current location is too low, and hospital beds in Jefferson County exceed state guidelines.
Judge Pool's decision was linked to the State Health Plan, which includes detailed rules for hospitals that want to build or move to replacement facilities. One specific requirement is the "60 percent occupancy rule," which requires a hospital with an occupancy rate below 60 percent to reduce the number of licensed beds to a point where the occupancy rate is at least 60 percent before it can replace its existing hospitals. Trinity's current occupancy rate is 44.8 percent, according to the court document.
Judge Pool also factored a 1990 state Supreme Court case, Ex parte Shelby Medical Center, into his decision. That decision reversed regulators' CON approval because Jefferson County already had 373 more hospital beds than needed. Today, the county has 1,510 more beds than needed.
Attorneys representing Trinity have said the ruling is "a complete misapplication of the process." They intend to argue that Judge Pool erred by substituting his own judgment for that of regulators, whose opinions are supposed to receive deference under Alabama law.
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