SENATOR: MEDICAL CLINIC LICENSING SHOULD REQUIRE MORE NOTIFICATION

A Shelby County state senator who called for reform in the state medical
licensing system said proposed new rules aren't strict enough to make sure
the public is notified when new facilities are planned.

The State Certificate of Need Review Board last week reviewed the first
draft of rules that would allow greater participation from affected
communities where medical facilities are proposed.

"It's a step in the right direction, but it's not going to satisfy me,"
said Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo.

A Shelby County fight against a methadone clinic was the impetus for the
proposed rules. In October, Saginaw residents won a court fight preventing
the Shelby County Treatment Center from opening in their community after a
judge ruled they weren't properly notified of plans before the state
approved the clinic.

Clinic owners said they followed state rules, and they have an appeal
pending in the Court of Civil Appeals.

The newly proposed rules would require that applicants seeking state
approval make stronger efforts to notify the public. That includes
publishing their application request in the community newspaper for two
consecutive weeks.

The rules also mandate that any major change in an application, including
the location of the facility, be made public and approved by the board.

Erwin had asked Gov. Bob Riley to inquire about the board's rules regarding
public notification. That action resulted in the draft presented last week,
which is expected to be raised again during the March board meeting in
Montgomery.

Acted Within Rules

Erwin said more provisions should be made to ensure the public is notified.
For example, he wants four weeks of advertising instead of two.

"They bungled this thing in Shelby County so badly they need to go
overboard in reassuring the public that they want to do it right," Erwin
said of the state board. "There has to be a thorough presentation to the
public in ample time for this to get out."

Alva Lambert, director of the State Health Planning and Development Agency,
said the rules had functioned without incident until the Shelby County case
arose.

"This is the one time that it has been a problem, so I don't know that
their application will be that big of a deviation from what we do," he
said. "We naturally want to do anything that we can to assure that the
public is informed, and we will take corrective measures to make sure there
are no situations that fall through the cracks."

However, state health officials have agreed that methadone clinic owners
followed the state rules. Lambert said Erwin has contacted his agency with
concerns about the clinic, and he understood the concerns of Shelby County
residents.

"We acted within the rules. That's all I can say," Lambert said.

Not Ready To Celebrate

The Shelby County Treatment Center was to open in Calera, but the
application was changed to Saginaw. Circuit Judge Dan Reeves found that the
change was not made public until it was too late for meaningful protest.

Despite that ruling, Erwin is not ready to celebrate.

"We had to scramble to win that thing, and I don't know necessarily if it's
fully closed yet," he said. "I'm glad that the Shelby County court system
agreed with the people of Saginaw, but Montgomery needs to act now and
finish it and let the people rest assured that their concerns did ring true."