Brookwood Medical Center plans Hoover, AL, hospital

Brookwood Medical Center appears ready to compete with Baptist Health System in the race to be the first to build a hospital in Hoover, AL. An amendment to the State Health Plan proposed by a lawyer for Brookwood would smooth the way for approval of a 140-bed hospital in Hoover. Baptist Health System filed a similar amendment in late July, but key differences distinguish the two. Baptist's version was tailored to its desire to transfer up to 140 beds from Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham to a medical complex Baptist owns in Jefferson County. Brookwood's version would not restrict the hospital to Jefferson County and would allow the creation of newly licensed beds and not restrict the project to a transfer of existing beds.