Hospital Feud May Land in the Lap of Supervisors : Health care: Board will consider financing for a new county wing. Nearby Community Memorial and some private doctors are upset.

The latest bout in a long-running feud between Ventura County’s public hospital and a private hospital nearby will very likely be waged Tuesday, when county supervisors consider whether to issue $51 million in bond-like certificates to pay for a new wing at the county hospital.

County health officials are recommending that the Board of Supervisors approve financing for the 105,000-square-foot, five-story expansion at Ventura County Medical Center.

The bonds would cost nearly $75 million over 15 years to repay, but most of the money would come from the state, county officials said.

Community Memorial Hospital and some private physicians have criticized the project as a waste of taxpayers’ money and an attempt by county hospital administrators to lure privately insured patients to the county-run facility.

They insist that the county is trying to compete with private doctors and hospitals for patients--not just fulfilling its legal mandate as medical provider of last resort for the poor.

“The proposed ambulatory care center is not necessary, considering what the county medical obligations are,” said Donald L. Benton, spokesman for Community Memorial. “It can be supported only by the county expanding its medical center to take care of privately insured patients.”

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Community Memorial, situated just two blocks from the county hospital in central Ventura, has sued to block construction. A trial is still months away, Benton said.

The $51 million would pay for the new $33-million wing of the medical center on Loma Vista Road. More than 105,000 square feet of office space would house outpatient facilities, dietary services, a cafeteria and the hospital’s UCLA-affiliated residency program.

Another $6 million would be spent on a nearby parking garage, and the remaining $12 million would go toward reserves, bond lawyers, construction-loan interest and other expenses.

The money would be paid back over 15 years, with 70% coming from a state fund set up to finance expansions at hospitals that care primarily for indigent or low-income patients, county officials said.

Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon said the cost of Ventura County’s 30% share, including interest, would be more than $24 million over the length of the bond. He said about two-thirds of that money would come from medical center accounts and the balance out of the county general fund, beginning in 1997.

Supporters of the expansion say the new buildings are needed to replace a group of dilapidated clinics on the hospital grounds and several rented facilities nearby.

County Hospital Administrator Pierre Durand said the new building would save money in the long run by avoiding costly leases on other properties and increasing the amount of money the county gets from Medi-Cal.

“Once you take all those factors into consideration, we’ll do very well,” Durand said. “It is a very feasible thing to do, and to the financial benefit of the county over the life of the project.”

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Durand said the medical center holds a series of leases that will cost the hospital more than $15 million over the next 40 years unless those services are moved into the new wing.

County medical officials say some of the hospital’s buildings date back to 1921. They deny that the new wing would divert patients from private hospitals such as Community Memorial, because the number of poor people needing public health care here is on the rise.

“About a third of the county has no access to health care,” said Samuel Edwards, medical director at the county hospital. “As all the other hospital occupancies have gone down, the number of people looking to us for service has gone up and up.”

But administrators at Community Memorial Hospital do not see it that way.

They argue that Ventura County Medical Center is methodically recruiting insured patients--such as county employees who receive discounts at the county hospital--from private medical centers.

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Community Memorial filed suit against Ventura County Medical Center earlier this year, asking a judge to define the legal role of a county-run hospital. The ruling, Community Memorial officials hope, will keep the county hospital from encroaching on their private market.

“If we are correct in the lawsuit, they will not have adequate numbers of people to use it,” Benton said of the new wing. “It will be a big, unused building.”

Siegfried O. Storz, a Ventura cardiologist who has practiced at both the county hospital and Community Memorial, said there is no question the county is positioning itself for an increased patient caseload.

“There is a feeling of competition,” he said. “The county would deny that, but the fact that they’re going to as much expense to do this (expansion) would contradict that.”

Storz has argued against the expansion at public hearings, but he does not plan to show up Tuesday. “They had their minds made up already (last time),” Storz said. “I don’t know whether going there now is going to make any difference.”

The bond proposal very likely will receive majority support from the Board of Supervisors, most of whom have said they approve of the expansion.

“I’ve supported that all along,” Supervisor John K. Flynn said. “I know there’s a big controversy. I just hope we can convince the doctors that this has to be done.

“It’s not just a matter of building a new facility--the old facilities are worn out,” Flynn said. “If there weren’t the number of patients, we wouldn’t be doing it.”