HOSPITAL'S EXPANSION SPARKS FEUD : ATTORNEYS ASSAIL $20.6 MILLION PLAN.

Byline: Christopher Noxon Daily News Staff Writer

A bitter feud between Ventura's two hospitals escalated into what both sides described as war Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors approved a $20.6 million addition to Ventura County Medical Center.

The board voted unanimously to finance the construction of a new laboratory, kitchen and parking structure at the hospital.

The decision was protested by a group of attorneys from Community Memorial Hospital, the private nonprofit hospital across the street.

Hospital attorneys argued that the addition is an attempt to complete work rejected by voters with the defeat of Measure X seven months ago.

Attorneys for Community Memorial said they would challenge the decision before the Public Facilities Corporation, which must sign off on the financing before the project breaks ground.

Attorneys said they are also considering launching a referendum drive to block the project. An announcement on the hospital's response to the board's decision is expected today.

The vote came at the end of an acrimonious public hearing in which hospital attorneys accused supervisors of nefarious plans of market domination and supervisors complained of harassment by high-priced lobbyists.

The construction amounts to about half the work proposed under the $51 million expansion plan covered by the March ballot initiative. The county must repair a crumbling 70-year-old facility that does not meet safety and medical codes, said Supervisor Frank Schillo.

``We are under the gun,'' Schillo said. ``We have gone as long as we can with a dilapidated kitchen and a dilapidated lab.''

But the work far exceeds the need to comply with state codes, said Steven Merksamer, a former chief of staff for Gov. George Deukmejian leading the legal team representing Community Memorial Hospital.

``You don't need $20 million to bring the hospital up to code,'' he said. ``When you have a wiring problem, you don't use granite and marble.''

The project is actually part of a long-term plan to expand the county hospital and dominate the local health care market, Merksamer said. Supervisors have refused to even consider proposals to share in the care of indigent patients currently treated at county hospital, he said. A promise from the supervisors to open formal discussions now was too little, too late, Merksamer said.

``They're only willing to talk now that they've started the war and launched the missiles,'' he said.

A five-story ambulatory care clinic proposed under Measure X has been dropped from the current proposal, leaving nothing but work that must be completed for the hospital to continue treating poor and uninsured patients, said county Supervisor John Flynn.

``It's hard for me to understand how anyone could be against providing a kitchen and laboratory that are safe for people to use,'' he said. ``It has been laid out very clearly, but you have painted us as a bunch of dishonest people violating the public trust . . . I urge you to get on the track of good public and civic behavior.''

The work would be financed through 55 percent federal money funneled through the state under SB 1732. Construction could begin six weeks after funding is approved, said Ventura County Health Care Agency Director Pierre Durand. ``This is not about buildings - this is about taking care of people who need care,'' Durand said.

But opponents said the supervisors should have gotten the message from the defeat of Measure X.

``This action should send up a red banner to voters that the supervisors are once again acting in an arrogant and self-serving manner,'' said Laura Dahlgren, president of Taxpayers for Quality Health Care.

Some supporters of the county system, meanwhile, said they suspect that the private institution is basing its objection on a desire to capture patients insured by Medicare.

``This isn't about the kitchen or the lab - this is about greed,'' said Madge Schaefer, a former Ventura County supervisor. ``Community Memorial wants to take all the Medicare patients and send the working poor away.''