Hospital Seeks Backing to Block County Outpatient Wing : Health: Community Memorial wants support for referendum against project it says would compete.

Community Memorial Hospital is seeking support from local business leaders in its campaign to block construction of a $51-million outpatient wing at the county hospital, which it says will be used to compete for private patients.

Representatives of the hospital, speaking as members of a group called Taxpayers for Quality Health Care, are meeting with local chambers of commerce in the hopes of winning support for a March 26 countywide referendum against the Ventura County Medical Center project.

County hospital officials are also getting into the act.

On Tuesday, Laura Dahlgren, a registered nurse at Community Memorial, and Dr. Samuel Edwards, medical director of the county hospital, appeared before members of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce to plead their case.

Speaking first, Dahlgren said the county hospital’s plan to add a new wing is part of a larger, ongoing effort to attract private patients. She said such competition with private hospitals could affect her job at Community Memorial, located on the same street as the county medical center in Ventura.

“I decided I needed to put down my rubber gloves and syringes for a while and get out and really express the concerns I’m feeling,” Dahlgren said.

“Government reaching into private-sector health care to augment its expenses is not the right thing to do,” she said. “Where do we draw the line? Is the parks and recreation department now going to be knocking on my door to mow my lawn to augment their budget?”

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However, Edwards told chamber officials that the medical center project is not an expansion as Community Memorial asserts, but rather a consolidation of aging, dilapidated clinics housed in rented buildings. He said the project will ultimately save the county money--as much as $1 million a year on rent, officials estimate.

“Taxpayers will pay a lot less in the long run by having their own capital plan rather than to be out renting space,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the outpatient wing is not intended to attract more private patients, noting that it will not add any new hospital beds. He said the county’s clinic system instead is aimed at keeping hospital care costs down by providing early preventive care.

“We have to get people into clinics sooner, so that medical problems don’t get worse and get into big-time medical costs,” he said.

But some chamber representatives suggested that the county was increasing demand for medical services through its expanding network of county clinics, which in turn refer patients to the medical center. They said it would make more sense to contract with private hospitals and clinics.

“It seems like [the concept] of supply and demand escapes government,” accountant Chris Hamilton said. “If there’s not enough supply, then we’re going to build more supply even if demand is going down.”

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But Edwards said that demand for medical services is increasing not only among the county’s poor but from a growing number of residents without employer-provided insurance. He said that the county’s seven clinics recorded a total of 300,000 visits last year alone.

Hamilton also questioned whether Ventura County would be headed for the same type of financial disaster as the Los Angeles County health-care system if it moves ahead with its plans.

“What happened in Los Angeles County is what we’re trying to prevent,” Edwards responded. “Los Angeles County imploded because their demand was so great and they hadn’t gone to an outpatient system.”

Edwards also warned that if the county does not take advantage of federal funds available to pay for more than half the construction costs of the new outpatient wing, the funding will go to another county.

“It’s taken us four years to get this [money],” he said. “There are a string of counties lined up behind us. If we default, the money will go to the next county.”

In addition to the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce, Dahlgren has met with Oxnard Chamber of Commerce officials. She said she plans to meet with officials of all 10 chambers as well as other community organizations, such as the Kiwanis Club.

Meanwhile, Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Ronald Stevens was chosen Tuesday by the state’s Judicial Council to hear a lawsuit filed by the county against Community Memorial challenging its referendum. Stevens was appointed after Ventura County judges recused themselves from hearing the case.

The case is scheduled to be heard Friday morning in Santa Barbara.