A Missouri panel has voted to block Fulton Medical Center from building a 10-bed hospital in south Columbia.
Missouri Health Facilities Committee voted 5-2 Monday against the proposed hospital.
The committee must approve new hospitals, nursing homes and medical equipment costing more than $1 million. The hospital would have cost about $40 million to develop.
Fulton Medical Center had argued it would offset losses from what formerly was known as Callaway Community Hospital. Fulton is owned by health care management company Neuterra, which is based in Kansas, and the University of Missouri Health Care.
Boone Hospital Center and its parent company BJC have criticized the proposed facility as unneeded because there are several other hospitals now serving the area.