Photo by Jon Anderson
People mingle prior to a Certificate of Need Review Board hearing at the state Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. The Hoover Health Care Authority was seeking state permission to build an outpatient surgery center and diagnostic center in the Riverchase Office Park.
The Hoover Health Care Authority on Wednesday received unanimous approval from Alabama’s Certificate of Need Review Board to proceed with building an ambulatory surgery and medical diagnostics center in the Riverchase Office Park.
The Health Care Authority came to the meeting in Montgomery with official opposition from an entity called the Forest Park Group, which has plans to open a surgery center in a proposed second phase of Stadium Trace Village near Trace Crossings. But at Wednesday’s meeting, the Forest Park Group withdrew its opposition to Hoover’s request, saying it had worked out a confidential resolution with the city of Hoover and its Health Care Authority.
This comes after the city has accrued more than $1 million in legal fees related to its application for state approval. The challenge by the Forest Park Group resulted in 10 days of testimony before an administrative law judge in Hoover over the course of three weeks in May and June, increasing the city’s legal costs significantly and delaying the city’s hearing with the Certificate of Need Review Board for several months.
After Wednesday’s decision by the CON Review Board, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he was elated to get the state approval.
“To me, it’s one of the biggest events that’s happened in the last 25 years in the city of Hoover,” Brocato said. “It’s been a long road. I’m so proud that our council stayed the course, our citizens stayed the course. It was a long hard-fought battle, but in the end, we are where we wanted to be, and now we’re going to bring incredible health care to the Hoover area, and who knows what the next step is.”
The outpatient surgery and diagnostics centers, when combined with other parts of a planned Riverwalk Village multi-use development, are projected to have an economic impact of $2.5 billion.
Alan Paquette, chairman of the Hoover Health Care Authority, said he was relieved the authority finally got its hearing and approval from the state.
The next step will be issuing a request for proposals from interested health care providers to find a health care entity or entities to operate the surgery center and diagnostics center. The Health Care Authority already has had discussions with health care systems in the Birmingham who are interested in working with Hoover on this project and will be open to receive proposals from anyone else who is interested as well, Paquette said.
The Health Care Authority has been working behind the scenes and already has a request for proposals ready to send out by this Friday at the latest, Paquette said. The goal is to receive all requests by mid-October so the authority can make a decision on an operator, he said.
“We really want to move this process along quickly,” he said.
The fact that the Health Care Authority applied for a CON without having an operator selected was one of the reasons the Forest Park Group objected to the authority’s application, an attorney for the Forest Park Group said previously.
Dr. Swaid Swaid, chairman of the CON Review Board, said during Wednesday’s hearing that the board had never considered a CON application without having an operator identified, though attorneys for the Hoover Health Care Authority have argued previously that it is not an unusual practice in other states.
Hoover’s application for a CON was approved with the condition that the Health Care Authority come back to the CON Review Board to ask for “project modification” approval once an operator is selected with information about that operator and its qualifications. However, no third party will be allowed to file an objection at that point.
Colin Luke, an attorney for the Hoover Health Care Authority, said one of the reasons the authority sought CON approval before selecting an operator is because it wanted the CON Review Board’s approval based on the proven need for such a facility, not based on who the operator would be. The Health Care Authority was trying to avoid a three-year legal fight between Birmingham hospital systems, Luke said.
Swaid said it is important, however, that Hoover get an outstanding operator for the facility.
Swaid also said he applauds the effort to build this facility because he sees the need for such services in that area for the residents of Hoover. “There’s no question about that,” he said.
During the hearing, Swaid noted comments from an expert who said existing similar facilities in Shelby County are at or near capacity and that what Hoover is proposing may not go far enough.
“I think Hoover can do more than that — more than they’re asking for in order to meet the real need in the community,” Swaid said. “This board is here to serve the citizens and to make good decisions when they are legitimate and needed. If that becomes their decision, we’ll always be here to listen.”
Photo by Jon Anderson
The state Certificate of Need Review Board convenes at the state Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. One item on the agenda was a request from the Hoover Health Care Authority for permission to build an outpatient surgery center and medical diagnostics center in the Riverchase community.
Another condition put on Hoover’s CON was that, while gynecology surgeries could be performed at this facility, the delivery of babies would not be part of the approval.
Paquette noted that, in addition to providing important health services to the community, the Riverwalk Village development will provide a much-needed stimulus for activity in the Riverchase Office Park, bringing new life and giving it “more juice.”
It also will offer educational opportunities for students in nursing and other medical-related programs at nearby Jefferson State Community College’s Shelby-Hoover campus and high school students in Hoover’s Health Science Academy at the Riverchase Career Connection Center, he said.
About 50 or so people from Hoover came to Montgomery Wednesday in support of the Hoover Health Care Authority’s application, including the mayor, Counciwoman Khristi Driver, city administrator, chief financial officer, school superintendent, police chief and numerous other city employees. State Rep. Arnold Mooney, who lives in north Shelby County and represents part of Hoover, also spoke in favor of the Health Care Authority’s application.
Photo by Jon Anderson
About 50 people from Hoover, Alabama, made the trip to the state Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, to show support for the Hoover Health Care Authority's application for a certificate of need for a surgery and medical diagnostics center in Riverchase.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:34 a.m. on Sept. 19 to correct the projected economic impact of Riverwalk Village to $2.5 billion.
