Medical centers battle over proposed Alabama hospital

Brookwood Medical Center has asked a Montgomery County, AL, Circuit Court judge to throw out Trinity Medical Center's application to relocate and to require Trinity to go through an extra regulatory process before seeking state permission to move. Brookwood says in its court filing that Jefferson County, AL, has too many unused licensed hospital beds and Trinity should go first through the process of altering the State Health Plan before applying for a Certificate of Need. Brookwood says the State Health Planning and Development Agency should not have allowed Trinity's application to be deemed complete and start through the regulatory process before Trinity won an adjustment to the State Health Plan.