RECEIVEDBEFORE THE STATE OF ALABAMA {# g ni1

CERTIFICATE OF NEED REVIEW BOARD 37ATr

IN RE: )

NORTHEAST ALABAMA ) DR NO. 13^REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER )

PETITION FOR DECLARATORY RULING

COMES NOW Petitioner, Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center ("RMC"), and

files this Petition for Declaratory Ruling pursuant to ALABAMA CERTIFICATE Of Need PROGRAM

Rules And Regulations 410-1-9-.01. Stringfellow Memorial Hospital ("Stringfellow") has

submitted plans to the Alabama Department of Public Health ("ADPH") to add open heart

services and facilities without first obtaining the required Certificate of Need ("CON").1 RMC

hereby requests this Certificate of Need Review Board ("CONRB") to (1) declare that

Stringfellow must first apply for and obtain a CON in order to construct a facility that will offer

the new institutional health service of open heart surgery and (2) that Stringfellow shall not

proceed with this project without first providing sufficient proof to the CONRB that the amount

of capital expenditures, new annual operating costs, and major medical equipment fall below the

thresholds for CON review.

I. PARTIES INVOLVED

1. Petitioner RMC is a public 338-bed hospital located in Anniston, Calhoun

County, Alabama, that provides open heart surgery. RMC received a CON to provide open heart

services in 2002.

1In addition to adding two (2) open heart operating rooms, Stringfellow's plans submitted to theADPH also include constructing two (2) non-open heart operating rooms, sixteen (16) same-day surgeryprep suites, nine (9) PACUs, four (4) holdingbays, and a connectingcorridor. This project will include23,600 square feet of new construction and cost approximately $7.5 million.