Alabama’s Certificate of Need Law

Wow!

With what I know about Alabama’s CON law, I could write volumes! And then, the title’s enough to get me started. I decided to use the “KISS” principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid.

If you’re a follower of Alabama politics – even casually – then you most likely have heard of, or remember former Governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy being convicted jointly of a “quid pro quo,” or more exactly, Siegelman was accused of accepting Scrushy’s bribe… to sit on the CON Board.

Never mind that the FBI extensively coached a known perjurer about what and how to testify – itself an illegal act – and never mind that Scrushy was appointed by two governors of two different parties to sit on the CON Board, and publicly expressed disdain for serving again. But that’s all water under the bridge. I only mentioned that because of its poignancy, and is relative to this post.

I sincerely doubt that most folks know that in Alabama, at least, not just anyone, or any organization can decide to build a hospital. For example, if Warren Buffett and Bill Gates decided that together, they wanted to gift the good people of Alabama with a hospital, they could NOT do it.

Why?

Read on to find out!