Further Study Urged for Hospital Expansion

A member of the county Public Facilities Corp. called Monday for Ventura’s two large hospitals to set aside their differences and jointly hire a private consultant to study ways to work together to meet the community’s health needs.

Facilities Corp. director Norman Blacher also asked Ventura County officials to prepare reports to answer questions raised by Community Memorial Hospital about a $38-million outpatient wing and parking garage the county wants to build at nearby Ventura County Medical Center.

A spokesman for Community Memorial told the facilities board in January that the new hospital wing is not needed, is too costly and is part of an aggressive county plan to compete for private patients and not just treat the poor.

County hospital officials argue that they need to replace a hodgepodge of dilapidated hospital clinics and must act now or miss a chance at a 70% state reimbursement for the project. The county also maintains that it has no plan to compete for private patients.

“We need to find out what the real facts are,” Blacher said. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted the answers in writing.”

The Public Facilities Corp. was established by the County Board of Supervisors in 1974 as a separate entity to sell bond-like certificates. Its approval is required before the county can raise money for improvements at the aging county hospital.

Blacher’s recommendation that a consultant be hired to analyze the hospitals’ common needs must be considered by the Board of Supervisors, according to Health Care Agency director Phillipp K. Wessels.

A second request that the facilities board meet jointly with the supervisors to discuss county hospital goals also will go to the Board of Supervisors, he said.