Grand Jury Tells County to Back Public Hospital

County officials should vigorously continue to support their public hospital as it opposes a move to transfer the county’s $260-million tobacco settlement over to private hospitals and block Ventura County Medical Center from tapping any of the funds.

That recommendation was contained in a five-page report released Monday by the Ventura County Grand Jury. The report, titled “Who Provides Inpatient Indigent Care in Ventura County?” was immediately characterized as “misinformation” by the leading proponent of the plan to transfer the funds.

The panel found that the public hospital provided 90.8% of the inpatient care countywide to indigents, poor patients who do not qualify for federal or state health insurance through Medicare or Medi-Cal.

That finding--a higher percentage than even the county hospital has taken credit for--could undercut the argument made by private hospital leaders, who say turning over the tobacco settlement to them would ensure better health care for the working poor.

It also highlights the complexities of reporting health care data, which can produce widely disparate statistics in answer to seemingly simple questions.

Mark Barnhill, a spokesman for Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, said Tuesday that the grand jury report should be ignored. Community Memorial is spearheading a November ballot initiative to turn over the tobacco money to private hospitals.

Barnhill called the report “ridiculous,” noting it was based on conclusions from 1993 and 1994 data, culled from a system that tracks only 25% of indigent patients statewide and considers only private hospital care that is reimbursed by the county. Care for the poor that private hospitals absorbed without seeking county reimbursement is not considered, he said.

“The report is specious on its face,” Barnhill said. “It’s just an example of the county, yet again, trying to put out misinformation and make the numbers dance to prove a false premise.”

The report recommends that county supervisors “vigorously continue to support the county’s health care system” and that Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford “continue to support a public information campaign that highlights the care and services offered by VCMC.”

According to the report, St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard provided about 4.8% of indigent care in Ventura County, Community Memorial Hospital 1.2%, Simi Valley Hospital 1.1%, Santa Paula Memorial 1%, Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks 0.9%, Ojai Valley Community 0.3% and St. John’s Pleasant Valley in Camarillo 0.1%.

The report also found that the public hospital provides care at a lower rate than other county hospitals in the state--$1,275 per patient each day, compared with $1,557.

Along with handing down criminal indictments, the grand jury often reviews county government operations and issues reports. But generally those reports serve only as recommendations to supervisors, who seldom implement anything based on their findings.

Community Memorial stands by its estimate that the public hospital cares for only a little more than half the indigent patients countywide.

The private hospital argues that the county has not yet dedicated any settlement money to support health care programs, spending it instead to pay off a multimillion-dollar dispute with the federal government.

Community Memorial has argued that the public hospital already receives county funding to care for indigent patients. As a result, it said, the private hospitals are financially stretched, because of the care they often provide without reimbursement.