Camarillo Residents Seek to Block Merger of Hospitals

More than 250 Camarillo residents jammed a public forum held by the Camarillo Health Care District on Wednesday, many calling for the district to block a proposed merger of hospitals in Camarillo and Oxnard.

Several residents called for the district, which owned Pleasant Valley Hospital until 1983, to seize control of the community hospital by eminent domain before it merges with St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

“I think the hospital needs to be taken over so we can find out the facts we need to know,” Camarillo resident Bill Esty told district officials. “We’re not getting answers from the hospital and you represent the last and best hope.”

Several speakers asked for the public takeover so that independent auditors could review the hospital’s financial records and conduct a feasibility study of the merger. Without such a move, they said, the community has no way to confirm Pleasant Valley Hospital’s claims of pending financial downfall that can only be avoided by merging with St. John’s.

“Bring it back to the people, where it belongs,” Leisure Village resident Sandy Okum said.

James M. Jeffers, the health care district’s attorney from 1970 to 1980, said he advised district officials that they could assume control of the hospital, which the district transferred to a nonprofit corporation in 1983.

“I formed this district and I know what their powers are,” he said. “They could take the hospital back.”

But Jeffers said district officials disregarded his advice and sought another opinion.

At Wednesday night’s forum, district officials said they have no legal power to get involved in the merger.

Leisure Village resident Moses (Moe) Kadish said consolidation of the two hospitals would create a health care monopoly in Oxnard and Camarillo, and force a price increase by eliminating competition between the facilities.

Kadish, who said he has served on hospital boards for 15 years, suggested that Pleasant Valley officials find a health care system other than Catholic Healthcare West--St. John’s owner--to buy the Camarillo hospital.

In a presentation to the Camarillo City Council after the forum, Pleasant Valley Hospital President Norman Gruber said the merger would help the hospital stay afloat by cutting costs.

Although the hospital made a $1-million profit last year, Gruber said it now is showing a deficit of $586,000 for this fiscal year. He projected a deficit of $3.5 million to $4 million for the hospital by 1996.

Gruber said the merger, which must be approved by the Federal Trade Commission, would ensure the hospital’s long-term viability.

“If we don’t do anything now . . . two, three, four years from now, the (hospital) board will be highly criticized” for failing to see financial problems coming, Gruber said.