Hospital Cites Losses in Decision to Close : Health care: Facility in Panorama City will shut down in January. Increased competition and the recession are blamed.

Citing long-term financial losses and a decline in the number of patients, officials at Panorama Community Hospital announced plans to close the facility in January.

“The hospital is operating in a very challenging environment,” said David Gustafson, the hospital’s managing director, “. . . and the smaller hospitals are going to be more vulnerable.”

Competition from larger hospitals, new technology that reduces the length of hospital stays and health plans that direct patients to other facilities have created a difficult climate for smaller hospitals, Gustafson said Thursday.

A sagging economy has worsened the situation industrywide, he said.

“Health care was thought of as recession-proof, but it’s not,” Gustafson said. “If people are out of work, they don’t have benefits and they don’t come in.”

The hospital is not a part of the county’s trauma network, and the closure is not expected to have a major effect on the community.

There are about “nine hospitals within five miles of this hospital,” Gustafson said. “It shows you that there are just plenty of providers.”

The hospital, located at 14850 Roscoe Blvd. in Panorama City, has 96 beds, but recently only 30 beds on average have been occupied, Gustafson said.

The decision to close the hospital was made after its parent company, Universal Health Services Inc., failed to find a buyer.

Tim Joslin, who served as hospital administrator for nearly a year before leaving in September, said the hospital “had been struggling for years.”

He cited a decrease in government and insurance company reimbursements as another factor contributing to the decline in patients.

“The majority of patients are Medicare patients,” Joslin said. “The government cut back Medicare reimbursements quite a bit in the last couple of years.”

The hospital emergency room will close Dec. 15 and efforts are already under way to notify police and other officials, Gustafson said. Other operations will end Jan. 15.

Hospital officials are working to help find other jobs for the 275 employees.