5 Hospitals Willing to Participate in Forum

Breaking their silence for the first time on the war between the county and a private hospital, the directors of several area hospitals said Monday they would participate in a countywide forum on how public and private providers can better work together.

“I think this is a positive first step to get people to come together,” said Jim Van Duezer, chief executive officer of Ojai Valley Community Hospital. “I certainly want to be at the table.”

Officials from Columbia Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley Hospital, St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and Santa Paula Memorial Hospital said they also are interested in participating in a countywide forum.

This is the first time other hospitals have voiced willingness to participate in talks that might concern the feud.

“I’ve long believed that this is the approach to take,” said Alan Rice, president of Simi Valley Hospital. “I’d like to be optimistic about the intent of the county supervisors.”

But a spokesman for Community Memorial Hospital, which is challenging the need for a new $28.7-million building at the county hospital, said the private nonprofit hospital would “probably not” be part of the discussions. He said the hospital’s main gripe was that the Board of Supervisors proposed the public forum after approving the county construction project last week.

“It seems somewhat backward to approve a building program, then convene a forum to decide whether we need it,” said Doug Dowie of the Los Angeles-based public relations firm Fleishman Hillard. “I think it’s more of a public relations ploy by the county.”

Community Memorial Administrator Michael Bakst and members of the hospital’s board of directors have declined to comment publicly about the hospital’s feud with the county.

Supervisors John K. Flynn and Frank Schillo said they were encouraged by the response from the hospital administrators elsewhere in the county. They will ask today that the board formally endorse a countywide health forum and begin organizing the first meeting.

“If we went out of business--which is what Community Memorial wants--it’s going to affect all the other hospitals in the county,” Schillo said. “So let’s get them all together right now and see that [the closing] doesn’t happen. Let’s see how we can all work together.”

Currently, other hospitals send patients without health insurance or means to pay to the county. The public hospital also handles the bulk of patients relying on Medi-Cal, government insurance for the state’s poorest residents.

Although it would be preferable to have Community Memorial at the table, Schillo said that the countywide forum should go forward regardless of the hospital’s participation.

“We’re willing to talk; they’re not willing,” he said. “That should say something about where they’re coming from.”

Pierre Durand, director of the county’s Health Care Agency, said he also welcomed the proposal for an open meeting with other health care providers.

“These are difficult times for the entire health care industry,” Durand said. “I think the proposal by the supervisors speaks to our desire to have everyone participate in the dialogue. I continue to extend my hand to Community Memorial. I hope they would change their minds.”

Supervisors said they would not be opposed to the multimillion-dollar county hospital project being part of the health care discussions. The board last week approved construction of a new, two-story building to replace the 75-year-old public hospital’s dilapidated kitchen and medical laboratory, which they say threaten the hospital’s state license.

Since then, neighboring Community Memorial Hospital has launched a voter referendum drive to halt the project, which it sees as part of a larger expansion plan aimed at luring away its patients.

If the supervisors were willing to rescind their decision on the hospital project, Dowie said Community Memorial officials would probably then be willing to participate in the discussions.

He noted that Community Memorial has offered numerous times to help pay for an independent analysis of health care services provided by the hospital and the county to determine how to deliver those services more efficiently.

Because Community Memorial and the county hospital are located within two blocks of each other in Ventura, Dowie said, “there are problems between these institutions that can only be settled by these institutions.” As a result, he said, a countywide health care forum would not be useful to resolving those problems.

“I doubt we will participate,” Dowie said. “We see it as an insincere move. We’re looking at this very cynically.”