Hoover, Alabama gets early approval for a hospital

The Statewide Health Coordinating Council voted unanimously to clear the way for Hoover, AL, get its first hospital. Hoover, with an estimated population of 72,596, is the largest city in Alabama without a hospital. The council voted to amend 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. That description describes only Hoover.