Photo by Jon Anderson
This former office building for Regions Bank now is being proposed for redevelopment as the Riverwalk Village Health and Wellness Center in Hoover, Alabama.
Public hearings regarding the Hoover Health Care Authority’s efforts to obtain a certificate of need for an ambulatory surgery center and medical diagnostics center in the Riverchase Office Park are set to begin Tuesday morning, May 28.
The Health Care Authority filed its application for the certificate of need with the State Health Planning and Development Agency in January, and an entity known as Forest Park Group contested the application in March, asserting that it plans to offer similar services in the same service area.
The Health Care Authority argued that Forest Park Group lacked standing to intervene in the case, saying that Forest Park Group did not appear to have any history in health care or the CON process, failed to provide adequate details about what type of services it plans to provide and failed to demonstrate that its planned facility would be in the same service area as the one sought by the Hoover Health Care Authority.
The Health Care Authority is trying to get approval for a surgery center and diagnostics center in the Shelby County part of Riverchase, and the Forest Park Group has asserted that its facility will be in the Jefferson County part of Hoover, thus being in a different service area.
The Hoover Health Care Authority also argued that the Forest Park Group did not provide concrete evidence that it plans to legitimately pursue a project that will provide competitive services to those proposed to be offered by the health care authority.
The administrative law judge handling the Forest Park Group’s contest allowed the contest to proceed, setting the stage for public hearings that are expected to last up to 2½ weeks.
The hearings will be held at the same building where the Hoover Health Care Authority proposes to operate its ambulatory surgery center and diagnostics center, a building formerly occupied by Regions Bank in the Riverchase Office Park. It’s the south tower in the Regions Riverchase complex at 250 Riverchase Parkway East.
The public hearings are set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday and 8:30 a.m. on the following days, according to a press release from the city of Hoover.
Once the administrative law judge completes the public hearings, the judge then is expected to make a recommendation to the State Health Planning and Development Agency’s Certificate of Need Review Board.
Colin Luke, the attorney representing the Hoover Health Care Authority, issued a written statement that there is overwhelming evidence that the proposed Riverwalk Ambulatory Surgery Center and Diagnostic Center more than satisfied all the required criteria set out by the CON Review Board.
“The citizens of our great community will benefit from state-of-the-art outpatient care in a convenient, beautiful, lower-cost environment,” Luke said. “This project is the catalyst for even greater developments in Hoover and is central to Hoover’s newly created Health Care District. Unfortunately, the opposition to this project has nothing to do with health planning or community need. The opposition is costing the city of Hoover taxpayer dollars unnecessarily and is intended to stop this important project. The opponents should be ashamed of their conduct and behavior on so many levels.”
