Hoover Baptist Medical Center

Hoover Baptist Medical Center is a proposed hospital in western Hoover off Highway 150 near I-459.

In July 2008, Baptist Health System announced that it was seeking approval to build the new hospital on the 18 acre site which it had purchased over the 20 months prior to the announcement. The system currently has a medical office building (opened in 2006) in a former Winn-Dixie location on the site, which will be demolished for the new hospital. BHS is applying to move 140 beds from its flagship Princeton Baptist Medical Center, which is licensed for 499 beds but only uses 300. BHS stated that it is not abandoning Princeton's West End neighborhood, merely attempting to bring healthcare where it is needed. Hoover is the largest city in the state without a hospital. BHS states 70 Alabama cities smaller than Hoover have a hospital, and four of them have two. Emergency calls to the Hoover Fire Department increased by 15 percent from 2005 to 2006, the system claims.

If the hospital is approved, it would be years before it would open. Construction alone would take 2½ years, and the regulatory process could be lengthy. Opposition from other area hospitals is also expected, which will slow the process as well.

In January 2009, days before the Statewide Health Coordinating Council was set to vote on whether Hoover should be allowed a hospital, Carol Steckel, the commissioner of Alabama Medicaid Agency, voiced the agency's opposition to any new hospital in the Birmingham area. However, the Council voted unanimously on January 22 to clear the way for a hospital in Hoover by amending the State Health Plan to stipulate that any city with at least 60,000 residents and no hospital should be allowed one, even if the city is in a county with an overall excess of licensed hospital beds.

External links

• We Need A Hospital website

References

• Velasco, Anna (July 22, 2008) "Baptist Health System will seek approval to build and operate a hospital in Hoover." Birmingham News
• Velasco, Anna (January 22, 2009) "Alabama Medicaid commissioner opposes proposal for a hospital in Hoover." Birmingham News
• Velasco, Anna (January 23, 2009) "Hoover, Alabama gets early approval for a hospital." Birmingham News