CAMARILLO : HMO Still Working on Building Plan

Needing more time to work out architectural details, Foundation Health Inc. officials abruptly withdrew a proposal before the Camarillo Planning Commission this week to build a medical complex on the city’s east side.

“We realized that there were a few more details that needed hammering out before it was presented to the commission,” said Kurt Davis, a company spokesman. “We still have every intention of building in Camarillo. We just need a little more time.”

The commission was set to consider approving the proposal during its meeting Tuesday.

Davis said the proposal for the 19,120-square-foot building, which is an effort by the health maintenance organization to retain more family practice physicians and to centralize services for members, will be back before the commission at its Dec. 6 meeting.

The project calls for the company to build a single-story building that will include examining rooms, X-ray laboratories and a pharmacy. The building is proposed for a vacant three-acre parcel near Adolfo Road and Avenida Acaso.

Davis said health maintenance organizations such as Foundation Health have recently found themselves vying with other organizations to retain their general medical practitioners.

Currently, about a dozen doctors under contract with the company run their practices out of their own facilities. Davis said the project is estimated to cost the company between $4 million and $5 million and could be completed by June.

Foundation Health is the largest group health care provider in Ventura County with more than 30,000 members. The company is considering plans to build similar buildings in Ventura and Oxnard, Davis said.