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Dep’t of Health dismisses one St. Pete hospital dispute, awaits ruling on another

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Florida Department of Health Celeste Philip dismissed Thursday one of the complaints surrounding Northside Hospital’s application to open a level II trauma center, but there’s still no decision on a challenge the hospital made after its application was rejected.

Northside announced plans to open a trauma center in its Pasco and Pinellas county service area back in March, claiming it was “uniquely equipped” to meet area demand for more trauma programs, but the prospect immediately drew the ire of Bayfront Health St. Petersburg and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.

Bayfront claimed a trauma center so close to their own would do too much damage to their bottom line and soon after Northside submitted its letter of intent to apply to open the facility in the spring, Bayfront filed a challenge with the state DOH over their acceptance of the intent letter.

Philip today dismissed the complaint from Bayfront, but the department still has to deal with a challenge from Northfront over DOH’s May 1 decision to reject its application to open the center.

In its rejection, DOH said Northside’s application “did not meet the standards of critical elements for provisions status.”

Northside’s challenge was heard by administrative law Judge Robert Cohen last month, but his recommendation is still pending.

Drew Wilson covers legislative campaigns and fundraising for SaintPetersBlog and FloridaPolitics.com. While at the University of Florida, Wilson was an editor at The Independent Florida Alligator and after graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to cover business deals for The Hollywood Reporter. Before joining Extensive Enterprises, Wilson covered the state economy and Legislature for LobbyTools.

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