County approves budget plan to shut down OB and ICU at Santa Paula Hospital

Santa Paula Hospital’s birthing center and intensive care unit will close in a budget approved Monday night by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

After dozens of community leaders, doctors and nurses pleaded with the board to rescue the OB and ICU, the board unanimously supported a $3 billion county budget that includes shutting down the services and relocating them to the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura about 15 miles away.

The county now will submit its plan to the California Department of Health Care Services. Unless the state agency asks for more review or other changes, expectant mothers and critically ill patients could be sent to Ventura starting in October. The emergency room and the rest of the hospital will remain open.

The service closures spark community fears about the future of the 63-year-old hospital. Supervisors Kelly Long and Matt LaVere emphasized their support of finding ways to build a financially sustainable hospital along Highway 126 in Santa Paula by 2030. That's when the current facility is set to be closed because of state seismic standards though the deadline could be extended.

“We need to move on it now,” Long said of the project. “We need this. We need the services.”

The decision to close the OB and the ICU is part of an alarming trend that has seen nearly 50 birthing units shuttered in California in the last decade, according to the nonprofit news site CalMatters. In Ventura County, the birthing unit at Adventist Health Simi Valley closed in May because of diminishing numbers.

The Santa Paula decision is driven by births at the hospital that have dropped to a low of about 10 a month. Volumes of critically ill patients have diminished, too.

Health care leaders say the changes will trim but not eliminate the hospital’s projected $16 million loss this year. Dr. John Fankhauser, CEO of  Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital, said the diminished volumes could also ultimately affect the quality of care and patient safety, factoring into the decision to relocate the services to VCMC.

But the plans have sparked waves of protest from Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru. Leaders contend the loss will lead to more complications, lesser care and inequitable access barriers in a lower-income, largely Latino valley. On Tuesday, many attendees wore red and a handful unfurled a banner protesting the cuts.

“Imagine what 30 minutes can do when you’re dealing with a life-threatening issue or you’re having a baby,” said Santa Paula city councilman Pedro Chavez, one of a long line of people who urged supervisors to reconsider the plan. Others worried it could take several hours to transfer patients via ambulances to the Ventura hospital, potentially causing deaths.

Fears also surround the future of a 49-bed hospital that now has a daily census of about 12 patients. Dr. Anthony Walls, a Santa Paula physician predicted the closed services could lead to the “slow death” of the hospital or its transformation into an outpatient center.

But Fankhauser said the county is fighting to make the hospital sustainable. He cited plans to add another operating room and to add services like colonoscopies and endoscopies. He also contended obstetrics patients can be safely transported to Ventura and noted the practice has become common.

About 24 nurses work in the hospital's labor and delivery, ICU and the definitive observation unit that provides care for people who no longer need intensive care. That step-down unit will remain after the other units close. Nurses and other affected employees will be moved to different positions in the county system with no layoffs anticipated.

Health Care Agency leaders have long been working on a plan to bring a new hospital and medical clinic to a Santa Paula property now owned by Limoneira. That plan also includes a medical office building that would expand outpatient services.

The plan has not yet been formally introduced to the board but that could happen fairly soon, said Barry Zimmerman, retiring director of the Ventura County Health Care Agency. Financial impacts of the plan are still being analyzed.

Long, whose district includes the Santa Clara Valley, pushed the board to pursue the project. LaVere cited money concerns but also voiced support for the project.

“I think the one thing that everyone in this room can agree on is the desire to build a new hospital,” he said. "But to do that we need to be honest about our financial realities and our utilization rates."

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County OKs budget plan that will cut OB, ICU in Santa Paula