The Florida Department of Health said in a legal filing Wednesday it has withdrawn a proposed rule dealing with trauma care and asked a judge to dismiss a challenge by hospital systems in Jacksonville and Miami.
In a document filed in the state Division of Administrative Hearings, the department said the challenge filed by UF Health Jacksonville and the Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, which operates the Jackson Health System, is "moot."
The department said it withdrew the controversial rule proposal on Tuesday. The proposed rule would have revised the numbers of trauma centers allowed in some parts of the state -- an issue that has been highly controversial in the hospital industry in recent years.
The challengers raised a series of objections to the proposal, and a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Darren Schwartz had been scheduled for next week.
