A hospital near Birmingham, Ala., is suing a competitor currently in the process of expanding one of its campuses to include an ambulatory surgery center, claiming that the ASC's 5-year delayed construction broke state laws.

Brookwood Medical Center filed the lawsuit Nov. 12, according to reports, to halt the construction of St. Vincent's Health System's One Nineteen Campus expansion. The 40,000 square-foot, $15.6 million expansion includes the ASC as well as an urgent care center and professional office space. The lawsuit, however, only addresses the surgery center.

The lawsuit alleges that St. Vincent's took too long planning the center and did not get a "firm commitment or obligation" to start the project after the certificate of need was issued, in accordance to state laws. Further, Brookwood alleges that in St. Vincent's application for the certificate of need, St. Vincent's said the project would start as soon as it received the certificate of need, and would be complete within a year of its issuance. The certificate was issued in 2009.

In September, St. Vincent's said in a statement that the "expansion has been planned since the $35 million One Nineteen facility was built almost 10 years ago." The construction on the project began in October, and is expected to be complete in fall of 2015.

"Throughout the planning process we have regularly communicated the project status to and received continued approval from SHPDA for the project," says Liz Moore, spokesperson for St. Vincent's, in a statement. "Consequently, we do not anticipate any delays to our project timeline."

Ms. Moore did not return respond to emails and calls requesting comment from Outpatient Surgery. Brookwood Medical Center and SHPDA also did not respond to requests for comment.

Kendal Gapinski