CAMARILLO : Hospital Merger Planned for Today

With no new legal obstacles raised Thursday, the long-planned merger of Camarillo’s Pleasant Valley Hospital with St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard was set to be completed early today.

The state Supreme Court issued no decision Thursday on whether it would consider the Camarillo Health Care District’s request to delay the merger, district officials said.

In the absence of a court-ordered delay, officials at Pleasant Valley Hospital said the merger was set to take effect at 7:30 a.m. today.

“Once the merger happens, the whole issue is moot,” said Sheryl Rudie, a hospital spokeswoman. “The Supreme Court cannot undo it.”

The health care district appealed to the high court Wednesday to review a Ventura County Superior Court judge’s refusal last month to delay the merger. The action came after the state Court of Appeal declined to hear the case.

Health care district officials have sought to delay the hospital consolidation until their anti-merger lawsuit against Pleasant Valley comes to trial. No trial date has been set.

District board members maintain that the Supreme Court can act even if the merger is completed.

Board member Jim Prosser said St. John’s is taking a financial risk by proceeding with the merger before the high court decides whether to review the case.

As part of the hospital consolidation, the Oxnard medical center agreed to pay off Pleasant Valley Hospital’s debt of $21 million, which was done Wednesday, according to hospital officials. Like Pleasant Valley, St. John’s is operated by a nonprofit corporation.

If a court eventually ruled the merger illegal, St. John’s may not be able to recoup the $21 million, Prosser said. “They are proceeding at their own peril.”

Patients and most employees at Pleasant Valley will not notice any immediate differences with the change in ownership, Rudie said.