WESTLAKE MEDICAL CENTER RETAINS OPERATING LICENSE.

Byline: R.A. Hutchinson Daily News Staff Writer

Westlake Medical Center's operating license expired last week as hospital officials began phasing out services, but county health officials said Monday the center remains eligible to stay open.

Eric Stone, licensing supervisor for the Health Facilities Division of the Los Angles County Department of Health Services, said several hospitals show their licenses have expired but because the state has yet to set renewal fees for 1996, none of the facilities have been sent renewal notices.

``My department does not consider them as having no license,'' Stone said Monday. ``Renewal fees haven't been set, so they couldn't renew.''

Nashville-based Columbia Healthcare Inc. holds the license to operate a 126-bed acute care facility at 4415 S. Lakeview Canyon Road. That license expired Saturday.

Columbia, the nation's largest health-care provider, remains in negotiations with Los Angeles-based Salick Health Care to sell the Westlake medical facility under a leasing agreement between the two health care firms. For Salick to continue operating its cancer center on the Westlake campus, it needs the support of an acute-care facility.

Last week, Columbia began phasing out operations at the medical center as it consolidates services with its Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. The Westlake emergency room closed at midnight last Tuesday. About 300 residents and employees gathered outside the hospital the next day to encourage both Columbia and Salick to keep the emergency room open.

Stone said it is rare that a company would allow a license to expire because of the difficulty in getting approval in the first place and the loss in value.

``Licensees don't let that happen because an open hospital is worth so much more than a closed hospital,'' Stone said.

Salick and Columbia have agreed on an $8.15 million sale price but haven't been able to agree on other points, including whether Salick can sell the facility to another entity as an acute-care facility.

Kris Carraway, a spokeswoman for the Los Robles medical center in Thousand Oaks, said Monday that Columbia's legal counsel was seeking clarification of a Superior Court ruling last week that ordered the hospital to remain open and operating at ``status quo.''

When the ruling was made, Columbia had already closed the emergency room, admissions and other operations, but continued to provide support personnel for Salick's patients in the Comprehensive Cancer Center wing of the facility. The facility is operating with a skeleton staff.

Salick officials contend the ruling means the hospital was to resume full operation while Columbia officials interpreted the ruling to be effective when it was made.