FTC Approves Merger of 2 Conejo Valley Hospitals : Health: Despite protests by doctors fearing a monopoly, the takeover of Westlake Medical Center is cleared.

Under a hotly contested agreement just cleared by the Federal Trade Commission, Westlake Medical Center will be acquired by the giant chain that owns West Hills Hospital in the San Fernando Valley and Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.

The corporate takeover won approval from federal antitrust regulators despite claims by doctors that the move would create a medical monopoly that could affect the quality of health care. Westlake and Los Robles are the only hospitals in the Conejo Valley.

The merger will shift all obstetrics services to Thousand Oaks and add a rehabilitation center to the Westlake Village facility. Westlake will retain for now its emergency, surgery and intensive-care services, said Kris Carraway, a Los Robles spokeswoman.

There are plans to provide longer-term rehabilitation at Westlake for orthopedic patients who have suffered accident, stroke or other trauma, Carraway said.

But Westlake will lose its obstetrics unit within the next two months, and its average 55 deliveries a month will be referred to Los Robles, about seven miles to the north.

Doctors who had asked the FTC to block the deal were puzzled by the decision.

“How they can determine it’s not a monopoly when Columbia now owns Westlake, Los Robles and West Hills is hard to imagine,” said Dr. Michael Feinman, a reproductive endocrinologist who treats patients at Westlake.

“Basically, someone living in this community has no choice but to go to a Columbia hospital now. This flies in the face of everything that antitrust stands for.”

Hospital officials said the merger is designed to reduce costs by eliminating duplication of services and to expand current services--not to create a monopoly.

The acquisition plans were first announced late last year. By now, some doctors have become resigned to the merger.

“It’s been going on for so long, we’re just apathetic,” said Dr. Karie McMurray, chief of obstetrics at Westlake.

Still, McMurray said she fears the merger will create a medical monopoly, putting an end to healthy competition that has fostered quality care at both hospitals.

“What upsets me most is that they’re going to close the obstetrics department at Westlake, and it’s a good department,” McMurray said.

McMurray said she will wait to see how the new, one-hospital Conejo Valley takes shape.

To accommodate the extra maternity patients, Los Robles plans to build two more labor-and-delivery rooms this year to add to the five existing rooms. In addition, a renovation of the department last year and the addition of staff will make it easy to absorb the extra deliveries, Carraway said. About 120 babies are born each month now at Los Robles.

In addition, Los Robles also has added a new neonatal unit, for babies who need intensive care, she said.

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The FTC approved the request of CHCA Healthcare Corp. to acquire Westlake Medical Center from Universal Health Services last week. On Friday, the paperwork is expected that will make the deal final, Carraway said.

Columbia / HCA is a 317-hospital chain based in Louisville, Ky. The acquisition was part of a larger hospital exchange among the health-care chains that the trade commission required as a condition of the merger.

Columbia / HCA acquired Westlake as part of a hospital swap that came as it divested itself of the Aiken Regional Medical Center in Aiken, S.C.--a divestiture ordered by the FTC.

Critics of the deal complained that Los Robles did not mention in its application to the FTC that it would be the only hospital in the Conejo Valley if the deal were approved.

Because Westlake Medical Center is just across the county line in Los Angeles County, Los Robles’ application cites the only other competitors as within Los Angeles County and ignores its place in the Conejo Valley market, critics say.

But Phelps at Los Robles said it only makes it easier for area residents to get the health care they need.

“It is our goal to provide our community with the medical health-care programs they need right here in the Conejo Valley,” he said. “There should be no reason for our residents to go through the hassle of traveling outside their own areas to receive the health care they require.”

Miller is a Times staff writer and Ira E. Stoll is a Times correspondent.