St. Joseph’s should build Riverview, FL, hospital, judge says

St. Petersburg Times, May 19, 2008

St. Joseph's Hospital should be allowed to build a 90-bed satellite facility in Riverview, FL, an administrative judge has ruled. The ruling thickens the plot in the battle between hospitals to tap into the growing population in Florida's south Hillsborough County. The order now puts the final decision in the hands of the Agency for Health Care Administration. In late 2007, the Administration ruled that competing HCA-owned South Bay Hospital should be allowed to relocate to the same area from its Sun City Center site. The new ruling in favor of St. Joseph's stems from its appeal of AHCA's denial of its application in 2005. After that denial, South Bay and St. Joseph's both filed new applications to build a hospital at the site.