When Santa Paula Hospital closes in 2030, it should be replaced with a medical office building and an expanded access care center that will offer urgent care, preventive treatment and other care, Ventura County Board of Supervisors decided on Aug. 18.
In a marathon discussion that brought tears and frustration, supervisors opted not to support building a micro-hospital that would include an around-the-clock emergency room but would be projected to lose $71 million over five years.
Instead they voted unanimously for a medical office building that would consolidate the region's county-run clinics into a one-stop health hub. It would include an expanded access center that would be open extended hours for urgent care, diagnostic treatment and imaging
including mammograms. It would also offer a lab, pharmacy, care for chronic conditions and other services.
“What we have today is not sustainable,” said Supervisor Kelly Long, citing federal cuts from President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill," expected to take $400 million from the county health system over several years. She pointed too at data showing an average census of about eight patients at the county-run Santa Paula Hospital licensed for 49 beds.
Set to close in less than four years because it won’t meet seismic standards, the 63-year-old hilltop hospital loses between $7.5 million and $15 million a year, consultants said. Long said building a replacement hospital could financially jeopardize the county’s entire health care system.
She said the expanded access care center seemed a better fit for community needs with a focus on prevention and care for chronic conditions.
“That’s where you’re going to see changes with overall disparaties,” said Supervisor Matt LaVere, referring to the goal of boosting healthcare in the low-income, mostly Latino Santa Clara River Valley. The region includes Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru.
The board's vote was designed to pick a pathway to allow county staff to begin to focus on sites for the new facility and the negotiations that process could entail.
But the choice frustrated community members, nurses and others who earlier told the Board of Supervisors the region needs an emergency room open 24 hours a day.
When the board's decision became apparent, several nurses and representatives of the California Nurses Association union walked out of the meeting room. “Shame on you! We’ll be back!” they yelled.
Moments after the board’s vote, Lisa Magallanes fought back tears. She’s an emergency room nurse at the Santa Paula Hospital and was born in the hospital 46 years ago.
She worried many Santa Paula residents don’t have regular doctors and rely on the ER for care. She worried too that people who need immediate care may stay at home instead of traveling to the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura or another hospital.
“They are going to have bad outcomes,” Magallanes said. “There are going to be consequences.”
Need for preventive care
The unanimous vote came after a study by consulting firm Health Management Associates. In a presentation, consultant Jonathan Freedman told the board replacing the hospital with a four-bed micro-hospital would keep an emergency room in the valley. But it would cost as much as $121 million, would likely take six to eight years to open and would lose money.
Freedman said research shows that many of the patients who currently use the emergency room in Santa Paula are not critically ill and could receive much of the care they need at the expanded care center. People with severe needs would be sent to the Ventura County Medical Center or other hospitals.
He said the research emphasizes the region's need for more routine and preventive care.
The medical office building and expanded care center could be opened in three to five years, Freedman said. It would cost $35 million or more but would likely not lose money and could generate more than $5 million over five years.
He recommended the plan, as did County Executive Officer Dr. Sevet Johnson.
Advocating for an ER
Many community members pushed hard for a new hospital. Some cited health care inequities, referring to data showing people in the valley have shorter lives than residents in other parts of the county.
It’s racial and geographic inequity, said Santa Paula Latino Town Hall President Rick Castaniero in a letter to the Board of Supervisors.
“Would this level of healthcare disparity be accepted if it existed in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, or another more affluent community?” asked Castaniero in a message that pushed for the current hospital to be retrofitted and modernized. “Would residents of those communities be asked to accept substantially reduced hospital services, longer distances to hospital care, and fewer healthcare resources? We do not believe they would.”
County leaders previously said they won’t retrofit the facility because It would cost more than $36 million, also incurring more than $10 million a year in other expenses.
Long argued equity means creating a healthcare system that is financially sustainable and meets the community’s needs.
“Equity doesn’t mean building something because it feels right in the moment. It means building something that will actually survive,” she said.
Community members focused on heart attacks and life-and-death situations.
“They really want to know that if they wake up at 2:30 a.m. and they think they need to go to the ER, they don’t have to drive 15, 20, 30, 40 minutes depending on where they are in the Santa Clara River Valley in order to get to those emergency services,” said Jenny Crosswhite, Santa Paula city councilmember.
Several community members said the expanded access care center would need to be open all day and night. Others worried about the cost of ambulances.
“You can’t take away a hospital and then charge them $3,000 for an ambulance ride,” said Mary Ann Krause of Santa Paula.
Supervisors asked staff to provide more information on transportation options and impacts. Noting the hospital was once privately owned and went bankrupt before the county reopened it 20 years ago, Board Chair Jeff Gorell asked for a report on the impact of the earlier closure on emergency care.
The consulting company's report did not tie the medical office building or expanded access care center to a specific site. Johnson, the county executive officer, said the next step would involve site options.
Gorell and others talked briefly about the future use of the hospital's current hilltop property with suggestions that partnerships might be possible with private companies. Long said any money derived from the site should go to benefit the Santa Clara River Valley.
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: County votes for expanded care center to replace Santa Paula Hospital
