South Florida hospitals challenge state approval of new Jackson Health facility in Doral

Five South Florida hospitals have challenged a decision by state healthcare regulators to approve a new, 100-bed hospital in Doral to be built and operated by Miami-Dade’s public hospital network, Jackson Health System.

The five hospitals — Kendall Regional Medical Center, Nicklaus Children’s, Coral Gables Hospital, Hialeah Hospital and Palmetto General — requested administrative hearings to appeal the Agency for Health Care Administration’s decision to approve Jackson Health’s application under the state’s certificate of need program.

No hearing date has been set yet.

Jackson Health administrators are planning the medical services for the proposed campus in Doral, dubbed Jackson West, to include the hospital, a stand-alone emergency room, a pediatric center, physician offices and outpatient surgery on 30 acres just west of the Palmetto Expressway on Northwest 25th Street.

Jennifer Piedra, a Jackson Health spokeswoman, said planning will continue, to be followed by a design stage.

In deciding to approve Jackson Health’s proposal on Dec. 4, AHCA officials wrote in a 76-page report that Jackson Health’s application “best satisfied the statutory criteria” for approving a new hospital in the West Miami-Dade city.

Under the state’s certificate of need program, new hospital applications are approved largely based on whether there’s enough patient demand to justify a facility.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 5:48 PM with the headline "South Florida hospitals challenge state approval of new Jackson Health facility in Doral."