DOCTORS TO RUN URGENT CARE.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - In a move they say will lower costs and improve patient services, emergency room doctors will take over operation today of the Los Robles Regional Medical Center outpatient urgent care clinic.

The hand-over of the clinic at 4415 Lakeview Canyon Road, renamed the Westlake Village Urgent Care and Occupational Health Care Center, has been welcomed by both the doctors and the private hospital as a common way of doing business.

``We will be trying to provide the best options for patient care without all of the red tape of hospital clinics,'' said Dr. William Scott, the new clinic's medical director.

``It will be a huge asset for the community.''

Scott expects the clinic to treat 800 to 950 patients a month, up from the estimated 750 now served, offering a full range of urgent care services.

According to officials from Los Robles, the doctors staffing the clinic originally came to them with an offer to assume control and financial responsibility of the practice.

The hospital took them up on the offer, agreeing to bow out of the outpatient clinic business there and be involved only in property management.

``We will essentially become nothing more than the landlord,'' said Los Robles spokeswoman Kris Carraway.

The hospital had opened the clinic two years ago and staffed it with ER doctors, who will mostly remain, and nurses and administrative personnel, who will transfer back to the hospital, officials said.

``They will provide the nurses and the admitting staff and the administrative side, but nothing will be changing as far as services and doctors,'' Carraway said.

The doctors also needed to provide much of the equipment and supplies needed to operate the clinic. The group declined to detail the costs involved.

According to health care experts, the move is not uncommon among private hospitals.

Having a group of doctors assume financial responsibility for an outpatient clinic they already staff is nothing new, said Karen Nikos, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Medical Association.

The group now running the Westlake clinic says minor changes in administrative operations will make a major difference for both practitioners and patients.

To start, the clinic will open earlier to accommodate patients before work or school.

It will continue to accept most insurance plans, and the doctors group says it can offer lower costs than hospital outpatient care.

``One of the biggest things will be that patients will only have to pay one bill, unlike at a hospital where you have to pay multiple bills,'' said Dr. Richard Benedon.

``The first couple of days are going to be ones of chaos and mayhem, but everything should return to normal quite quickly.''

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(ran in Conejo edition only) After a quick changeover, a group of doctors - not Los Robles Regional Medical Center - is now running the Westlake Village Urgent Care and Occupational Health Care Center.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News