Surgical Hospital Plan Advances in Thousand Oaks

Three dozen doctors establishing a new inpatient surgical center in Thousand Oaks say plans for the facility are moving forward, and they expect to break ground early next spring.

The Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital, on Rolling Oaks Drive between Moorpark and Rancho roads, is expected to open in 2003.

Patrick Reiten, a general surgeon and one of the hospital’s founding partners, said a local development group, Amoroso Cos., will oversee construction of the $25-million project.

The development firm intends to purchase the land, build the 47,000-square-foot hospital and 40,000 square feet of attached doctors’ offices, and lease the property back to the 36 surgeons.

Unlike general hospitals, surgical hospitals only admit patients for elective procedures. They do not have emergency rooms or intensive care units, but do provide inpatient services, as opposed to surgi-centers that provide only outpatient services.

Before the hospital can break ground, plans must get final approval from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

That approval is expected in January or February, Reiten said.

Councilwoman Linda Parks said the hospital is part of a local trend toward decentralized surgical care since Westlake Medical Center closed four years ago, leaving Los Robles Regional Medical Center as the only full-service hospital in the city.

“We have urgent care centers that have started up since the closure of the Westlake hospital,” Parks said. “A surgi-center is opening. I think that’s a result of our existing hospital having reached capacity.”

A major expansion is planned at Los Robles, but it is expected to take a decade.

Parks is leading an effort to see whether the community could again support a second general hospital.

In the meantime, she said, the surgical hospital should help meet a need.

Los Robles officials have said in the past that a surgical hospital could drain the general hospital of patients with more profitable cases, cutting into its ability to provide charity care.

On Friday, hospital spokeswoman Kris Carraway-Bowman said of the surgeons: “We wish them all the best, and we want them to know we’re here as a resource for emergency care when their patients need it.”

The surgeons who intend to be investors in the Thousand Oaks facility specialize in a range of ailments, from breast cancer to hernias to ear, nose and throat cases.

The hospital plans to accept traditional insurance, Medicare and Medi-Cal, and will offerprivate rooms for 27 patients, with sleeper sofas for family members and a 3-to-1 patient-nurse ratio.

Reiten, who performs surgeries at Los Robles, said a new surgical hospital would not hurt the general hospital.

“When we open, they’ll continue to be very busy because the community is growing so much,” he said. “I think we’re only going to serve to relieve the capacity somewhat.”

Fresno-based FSC Health Inc. would manage the Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital, one of four surgical hospitals it is currently operating or has planned in California.

Company Vice President David Thoene said there now are only a handful of surgical hospitals nationwide and about 25 in development.

But the concept is becoming popular in areas where general hospitals are overcrowded or understaffed, he said.