GROUND BROKEN FOR HOSPITAL CITY, UHS COMMIT TO $82 MILLION MEDICAL FACILITY.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Palmdale and Universal Health Services officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for an $82 million, full-service hospital they said will provide residents with convenient health care.

When completed in an expected 18 months, the hospital will end the city's distinction as California's largest community without a hospital, a status it has held since Desert Palms Hospital closed in 1996.

``This has been our No. 1 priority for the last five elections,'' said Mayor Jim Ledford. ``Our residents have long called for this groundbreaking. They've called for it and they've demanded it.''

About 200 people attended the ceremony for Palmdale Regional Medical Center on Tierra Subida Road south of Palmdale Boulevard.

While celebrating the start of work on the hospital, officials said they were preparing for a possible battle with the Antelope Valley Healthcare District. The district that operates Antelope Valley Hospital announced Wednesday it is willing to pay $9.3 million for the UHS site, an offer that city officials said they are not interested in.

Health care district officials fear a private hospital in Palmdale will draw away patients with health insurance and leave Antelope Valley Hospital with a higher proportion of indigent patients. They have said they are exploring the possibility of using the health care district's power of eminent domain to acquire the Palmdale site.

Palmdale City Councilman Steve Hofbauer called that ``a case of inappropriate use of eminent domain.''

``I don't understand why, after all the years of talking to that hospital board and the efforts we've made, they haven't moved forward,'' Hofbauer said. ``Why are they, at the 11 1/2 hour, trying to obstruct this plan?''

Ledford did not directly address the controversy in his remarks, but made a reference to it in saying that the Antelope Valley's next hospital should be at Palmdale Boulevard and 40th Street East, a location district officials have identified for a hospital in the past.

Ledford also said city officials looked to partner with ``anybody who could carry a scalpel'' to bring a hospital to Palmdale and that it was UHS that stepped forward.

Bob Trautman, UHS's chief executive officer of Lancaster Community Hospital, also made a subtle reference to the controversy in his public remarks.

``The health care of the valley is in all of our hands, not just one hospital,'' Trautman told the audience.

After the ceremony, City Councilman Richard Loa said he looked into Universal Health Services' operations when he first came onto the council, including visiting two of its hospitals in Texas, to see how they handled uninsured patients and patients who were in the country illegally. Loa said he came away as a ``big fan.''

Loa said he was disappointed with the health care district's approach in trying to acquire the UHS site.

``I'm flabbergasted by what Antelope Valley Hospital is doing. They need to square away their own operation,'' Loa said. ``There's room for both hospitals.''

Of the possibility of an eminent domain battle, Loa said he hoped the district would ``not go there.'' If it does, the city will fight.

``We are going to fight them all the way and we are going to prevail,'' Loa said.

Planned on a sloping parcel of land that overlooks the valley, Palmdale Regional Medical Center will have five stories in the front and two stories in the rear. It will have a 36-bed emergency room, a 40-bed intensive care unit, a cardiac program, and obstetrics and pediatric services.

Also to be built on the property are two medical office buildings, each 60,000 square feet in floor space and each costing about $10 million.

UHS is committed to reinvesting profits in its hospitals, said Mike Marquez, the corporation's western region top executive. UHS has invested $15 million in Lancaster Community Hospital since acquiring it in 2002, he said.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Lancaster Community Hospital CEO Robert Trautman speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the new facility.

(2) Little Miss Palmdale Madison Gale, 8, took part in Thursday's groundbreaking for the Palmdale Regional Medical Center.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) The planned Palmdale Regional Medical Center is shown in an artist's rendering. The facility will have five stories in the front and two stories in the rear. It will have a 36-bed emergency room, a 40-bed intensive care unit, a cardiac program, and obstetrics and pediatric services.