Thousand Oaks Hospital Lays Off 25 Workers

Los Robles Regional Medical Center, the larger of the Conejo Valley’s two hospitals, has announced layoffs of 25 employees and work reductions for 100 others after two years of dramatic reductions in the number of patients.

The layoffs and work reductions, which were spread evenly throughout the Thousand Oaks hospital’s 45 departments, followed other, unsuccessful attempts at decreasing employee costs since 1983, said Lyn Klodt, assistant director of marketing and public relations.

A nearby hospital, Simi Valley Community, is also suffering severe declines in business, a hospital spokesman said. But the institution, which laid off 11 employees last year, is not considering laying off any of its remaining 170 employees, he said.

Administrators at the two hospitals attribute the reductions in patients mainly to stricter treatment standards by Medicare, the federal government’s health-insurance program for the elderly.

They also cite the increasing tendency of patients to shop around, comparing medical services and prices, and the trend for insurance companies to demand second opinions and insist that some conditions be treated on an outpatient basis.

At Los Robles, the average number of inpatients decreased from 144 two years ago to 114, Klodt said. The layoffs reduced the number of employees to 600 at the 190-bed hospital, she said.

Administrators previously tried belt-tightening measures short of layoffs, such as hiring freezes and job sharing, but they were unsuccessful, Klodt said.

“We fully expect the layoffs to be permanent,” Klodt said. “We just see no other way.”

Simi Valley Community Hospital has also experienced a 25% decline since 1983, said Kurt Hoekendorf, director of marketing. Slightly more than half of its 70 beds are filled, he said.

Whereas Los Robles and Simi Valley Community have recorded severe drops in patient numbers, two other eastern Ventura County hospitals reported little or no decrease.

Simi Valley Adventist Hospital, for example, has experienced a 14% increase in patients being admitted since Jan. 1 and is hiring, said Darwin Remboldt, hospital president. However, the hospital recently completed a $20-million expansion and is now filling, on the average, just 65 of its 135 beds, he said.

Westlake Community Hospital has had only slight fluctuations in numbers of patients and has laid off only a “small” number of employees the last few years, said Kim Sheehorn, director of marketing. She said the number of outpatients has increased.