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Hospital move gets state's okay
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer Three months after winning county support, Hernando HealthCare got permission from the state to rebuild Brooksville Regional Hospital 3 miles west of its current downtown Brooksville home. The Agency for Health Care Administration announced its decision Friday without explanation. Further details should become available next week. "I'll take the little A," Hernando HealthCare CEO Tom Barb said, referring to the single letter designating the project's approval. "That's wonderful. I'm not really surprised. But until you hear it, you're not really sure." The company has its drawings complete, Barb said, and could be ready to break ground in three to four months. He could imagine only one obstacle -- opposition from competitor Oak Hill Hospital. "I would imagine Oak Hill probably has 30 days to decide whether they're going to appeal," he said. "That will probably drive things." Actually, all parties that might be affected by the relocation will have 21 days from the date the decision is published in the Florida Administrative Weekly to request a hearing before the Division of Administrative Hearings. The publication will take place late this month or early January, AHCA spokesman Bruce Middlebrooks said. And Oak Hill plans to take full advantage. "We feel the state's decision to grant the relocation request is a poor decision based on the three points that we have always maintained: that residents on the east side will be adversely affected by the relocation, having three hospitals in such close proximity will be detrimental to advanced services in health care for Hernando County, and the financial impact on the city of Brooksville and local businesses will be devastating," hospital spokeswoman Nancy Kaminski said in a written statement. "We will be vigorously appealing the decision," Kaminski said. An appeal could delay construction by a year or more. That news did not cheer county commissioners, who otherwise sounded thrilled with the state action. "I understand (Oak Hill's) decision from a business point of view," Chairman Chris Kingsley said. "But from a community point of view, that's too bad." Perhaps Oak Hill could back off, Kingsley said, and then the community could rally to get it a cardiac unit and "we can have the best of both worlds." He looked forward to seeing the new hospital built. So, too, did Commissioner Betty Whitehouse, who said it would benefit the long-neglected east side of the county by luring more doctors and health care services to serve the region. Hernando HealthCare, a subsidiary of Naples-based Health Management Associates, took over management of Brooksville Regional and Spring Hill Regional hospitals in 1998, bringing the hospitals out of bankruptcy. The company proposed rebuilding Brooksville Regional at a new location in summer 2000, revealing details a year later. Barb and others argued that the aging building had outgrown its usefulness, and a new facility would allow professionals to provide more modern medicine. -- Staff writer Jeffrey S. Solochek covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6115. Send e-mail to solochek@sptimes.com.
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