Hospitals Nervous About Loss of Medi-Cal : Health: County-sponsored facilities with reserves are better able to cope than private medical centers that carry state contracts, officials say.

Ventura County hospital officials said Friday they are in far better shape to weather the impending loss of state Medi-Cal payments than their Los Angeles counterparts.

But some cautioned they can’t last forever without state funding, which was cut off Thursday in the wake of a continuing budget crisis.

So far, the funding cutoff will not affect Ventura County Medi-Cal patients, already stung by reductions in their coverage in the past few years. But many said they are nervous about the future.

“My son is on Medi-Cal and I depend on it for shots and checkups,” said Debra Reid, 21, who brought her son Aaron, 2, into the West Ventura Family Care Clinic for a checkup. “If they were to cut it off, he wouldn’t have any medical care.”

Some Los Angeles County hospitals have predicted they will shut down within five days without Medi-Cal funding. But because of substantial reserves, Ventura County-sponsored medical facilities can last for at least three months, officials said.

“I don’t have the anguish of some other hospital administrators because we are fortunate enough to have reserves,” said Pierre Durand, administrator of the Ventura County Medical Center, which receives 50%, or $30 million, of its budget from Medi-Cal. “We are open for business and open for Medi-Cal.”

But private medical centers in the county that carry Medi-Cal contracts will be hard hit by the halt in funding.

“We get $25,000 to $30,000 a week from Medi-Cal and we are already operating in the red,” said Rulon Barlow, chief executive officer at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital. “To lose that much weekly most certainly will impact us. Will it cut services? I don’t know.”

Barlow said 10% of his hospital’s business is done with Medi-Cal. If funding is cut for more than a few weeks, he said, “we will be forced to look at whether or not we can continue to provide services.” Clinicas del Camino Real, a private network of four clinics in the county, will continue to accept Medi-Cal patients in the hope that the state will quickly reimburse the organization once the budget crisis is over, said Al Limon, Clinicas program coordinator.

“They will owe us the money,” he said. But he added that the clinics will not hold out forever. “We are operating on a deficit now, and we have to rely on a line of credit.” Limon estimated the clinics could remain open for another two to three months without state funding.

Officials at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard also expressed concern should the budget crisis continue. “In the short term, it hasn’t affected our financial picture, but in the long term it could have a negative impact,” spokeswoman Rita Schumacher said. St. John’s receives about 10% of its revenue from Medi-Cal, she said.

Most other private Ventura County hospitals do not carry Medi-Cal contracts, so they stand to lose far less.

“We only provide emergency service to Medi-Cal patients,” said Carol Freeman, vice president of Los Robles Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. “It won’t impact us really.” Freeman said Los Robles will continue to accept Medi-Cal emergency cases, regardless of the budget crisis.

Warren Tetz, chief financial officer at Simi Valley Hospital, said his hospital will also continue to provide emergency services. “Obviously it hurts, but we are assuming it will be resolved quickly,” he said. Only about 3% of that hospital’s revenue comes from Medi-Cal, he said.

The prospect of any cuts has Medi-Cal patients worried. “I’m really upset with the government,” said Cathy Costa, 32, who brought her 18-month-old son into the West Ventura clinic for a post-pneumonia exam. “If they close this one I’d have to go to the emergency room, and there’s no guarantee they’d take me there.”