HealthSouth contests new building of facilities in AL

HealthSouth Corporation is opposing a deal to build two skilled nursing facilities in Alabama.

The company says building Hoover Health Care and Vestavia Health Care in Jefferson County would violate the 2003 nursing home moratorium on all new SNFs, and that the homes shouldn’t be granted a certificate of need.

Northport Holding LLC, which would build the facilities, would be relocating 238 skilled nursing beds that belonged to the Jefferson Rehabilitation and Health Center in Ketona, formerly the county nursing home. Northport bought the beds for $8.3 million in 2011.

Alabama lets companies move licensed beds within a county with the state’s permission. HealthSouth filed its opposition on May 31 and asked for a contested case hearing before an administrative law judge; a hearing is expected this summer.

Asking for the contested case “was unjustified, unnecessary, and unwarranted,” said NHS Management LLC Vice President John Burchfield.

“With this new challenge, they have escalated this threat and started down a path that could lead to years of litigation and incredible loss for the county,” he said.

HealthSouth’s opposition is “without merit,” Burchfield said. He added it will result in a delay of the money being paid to the county.

But HealthSouth says granting Northport’s applications will add “duplicative and unnecessary additional cost” to the state and that there is not enough demand, said HealthSouth spokeswoman Casey Lassiter. HealthSouth, which runs inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in 27 states, also provides a higher level of rehabilitative care, she said.

“Any applicant that purports to provide rehabilitative services must do so on a level playing field and meet required levels of care,” she said. “[Their] applications are inconsistent with the CON requirements in Alabama and fail to meet the healthcare standards for inpatient rehabilitative services.”