Alabama board rejects beach-community medical center

The Alabama Certificate of Need Review Board has rejected a bid by a group of Baldwin County doctors and a subsidiary of Pensacola's Sacred Heart Health System to build a $9.4 million outpatient surgery facility. Supporters of the project had figured the project would go forward after an administrative law judge issued a 120-page ruling in favor of Pleasure Island Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC's proposal. Instead, the board sided with Mobile's Infirmary Health Systems and Foley's South Baldwin Regional Medical Center, which fought to keep their competitor out of the market.