The Washington State Hospital Association, representing 98 hospitals around the state, has sued the state over new rules that add state scrutiny of hospital affiliations and mergers to a law that previously allowed the state to review only hospital "sales, purchase or lease" arrangements. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Thurston County Superior Court, asks the court to invalidate the recently adopted Certificate of Need (CON) rules, and asserts that the new rules don't have a basis in the law. "We know the new rules go too far because the Department of Health has consistently said the law doesn't apply to mergers or affiliations," said hospital association President and CEO Scott Bond.