2 Supervisors Reject Hospital Proposal

Two Ventura County supervisors Thursday rejected a proposal by Community Memorial Hospital to jointly hire a consultant to define health care needs in the Ventura area and recommend how they can best be met.

The private hospital had recommended retaining the consultant to analyze the need for a proposed $30-million wing to the county Medical Center, just three blocks from Community Memorial.

But Supervisors Susan K. Lacey and Maggie Kildee told Community Memorial board members Fritz Huntsinger and Donald Benton in a 90-minute meeting that the county favors studying health care needs countywide, participants said.

“We suggested looking at the needs of the whole county first and if something flowed out of that, we might be interested,” said Lacey, whose district includes both hospitals.

Community Memorial officials oppose construction of a new 105,000-square-foot outpatient wing at the county facility, saying it is not needed, is too costly and is part of a county plan to compete for private patients and not just treat the poor.

County officials argue that they need to replace a hodgepodge of dilapidated clinics and must act now or miss a strong chance at 70% state reimbursement. They also maintain that they have no plans to compete for private patients.

The supervisors, who approved the new hospital wing in concept in 1993, have responded to new questions on the project by agreeing to a public hearing, tentatively set April 19.

“I think the two supervisors said in effect, ‘We’re going to do our thing and you’re going to do your thing and trust us that we won’t encroach on your thing,’ ” Benton said.