CAMARILLO : Officials to Discuss Takeover of Hospital

The Camarillo Health Care District will hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to decide whether to seize control of Pleasant Valley Hospital by eminent domain to block a proposed merger with St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

Camarillo residents and physicians have pleaded with the health care district to take over the hospital, saying they fear that they will lose the community’s only medical center if the merger goes through.

Health care district board members recently agreed to spend $25,000 to audit Pleasant Valley’s financial records in light of contentions that the hospital is healthier than its officials have claimed.

Pleasant Valley officials and other health experts will discuss their views on the merger at a public forum at 6 p.m. today at the Bill Esty Community Center, 3701 E. Las Posas Road.

Hospital officials have said that, based on current trends of fewer patients and a decrease in federal reimbursements, Pleasant Valley would not survive more than several years without the merger. Officials from both hospitals have said they will keep both facilities open.

Health care district board members have asked for legal counsel on whether the district would have to pay market value for the hospital or merely reverse the agreement that allowed the district to pass ownership of the hospital to a nonprofit corporation in 1983. The district owned and managed the hospital until then.