Montgomery, Ala. - The city of Hoover moved much closer to having a hospital within its city limits when Alabama's Statewide Health Coordinating Council voted unanimously Thursday to approve a full-scale hospital proposal for Birmingham's largest suburb.

Hoover, with a population of more than 70,000 residents, is the largest city in Alabama without a hospital in its city limits.

The only opposition to a Hoover hospital came from the Alabama Medicaid Agency.

"We just view the proposal as something that would increase the cost to the Medicaid program and, thus, to the citizens of this state," Medicaid Attorney Bill Butler told the council.

Butler, however, could not provide any specific cost estimates.

He was asked by council member Mary Sue McClurkin how costs could increase simply by patients having a new choice for health care.

"My understanding is the proposal would increase the number of beds in Jefferson County.  Is that correct?" Butler replied.

McClurkin and other council members were not satisfied with the response and grilled Butler as to why Medicaid was only now raising concerns when the council had been considering a Hoover hospital since July of last year.

Butler said Medicaid would work to provide more specific data in the future.

Council members were more welcoming to Hoover's mayor, Tony Petelos, who has long presented figures supporting the city's claim that a hospital is crucial to Hoover's future.  Petelos has pointed to the traffic-congested highways linking Hoover to existing metro Birmingham hospitals and has said travel time in emergency situations could decrease the chances of survival in the most critical situations.

The mayor also noted Hoover's paramedics have to leave the city, often for an hour or more, to take residents to existing hospitals.

"We receive 5,000 medical emergencies every year in the city of Hoover," Petelos said.  "Anytime we transport patients to the hospital, they have to leave the city of Hoover."

Population shifts in metro Birmingham, Petelos said, also underscored the need to have a hospital closer to the homes of suburban residents.

"Over a hundred thousand people have left the city of Birmingham.  They have moved over the mountain," Petelos said.

The council was convinced, and the body's vote to approve the hospital proposal now opens the door for Baptist Health System and Brookwood Medical Center to compete for which company would be chosen to build the facility.

The companies will now both lobby for a certificate of need to build the hospital.  Potential sites for the facility depend on which company would be chosen.

"We have 20 acres in the western section of Hoover at Interstate 459 and Highway 150.  So that's the site we already have," noted Ross Mitchell of Baptist Health System.

Debbie Hollenstein of Brookwood Medical Center said Brookwood was still open to considering several potential sites, possibly along U.S. Highway 280, and perhaps within northern Shelby County.

"We're evaluating.  We want to do the best thing we can for the folks in Hoover and the folks in northern Shelby County as well," Hollenstein said.  "So we'll take it one step at a time."

Hollenstein pointed out Brookwood is already working to establish an emergency treatment facility near the intersection of Highway 280 and Alabama 119.

While Thursday's council vote moved Hoover closer to a full-scale hospital, the city still has a long way to go before a hospital could actually open to patients.  Approval is still needed from additional agencies.

Petelos said the process would be lengthy and that the opening of any hospital is still "years away."

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