County OKs Funding for Health Care Plan

Seeking to end criticism of wasteful spending, county officials agreed Tuesday to use $10 million a year on a comprehensive health care plan ranging from seismic upgrades of the county hospital to outpatient mental health clinics.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to adopt the plan, which will be funded with an estimated $260 million in tobacco settlement funds the county expects to receive over the next 25 years.

The move comes just one day after pro and con arguments were heard in Ventura County Superior Court on a controversial initiative that would transfer control of the settlement funds from the county to seven private hospitals.

Declaring it illegal, the supervisors have refused to put the measure, sponsored by Community Memorial Hospital, on the November ballot, and a judge is now deciding whether it should be presented to voters.

If the county is allowed to keep the money, the policy adopted by supervisors will guide how it is spent.

County Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford called for a “rolling five-year plan” periodically updated to address health care concerns as they arise or diminish. He said the vote was a powerful statement but acknowledged it is not binding and conceded that the money could still be used for non-health care matters if a crisis erupted.

“But it’s quite unlikely that the board would reverse themselves,” Hufford said.

Reaction from Community Memorial to Tuesday’s decision was swift.

A hospital spokesman accused supervisors of “pandering” to assorted unions and health care interest groups in an attempt to curry favor should the initiative appear on the fall ballot.

Community Memorial’s administrator, Michael Bakst, has said he launched the initiative drive after supervisors voted to spend $3.5 million to pay off a federal health care fine. That action showed the county would waste the tobacco settlement money paying off a bad debt instead of dedicating it to health programs, Bakst has said.

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Supervisors Frank Schillo and Judy Mikels said they will hold six public meetings in September to gather public comments on how best to spend the money.

Doug Dowie, spokesman for Community Memorial, sees the timing as suspicious.

“It may be 100 degrees and it may be July, but I think Harry Hufford and the supervisors have put on their Santa suits and are coming around with a goody bag,” Dowie said. “They keep calling it a proposal, but the only specific thing it proposes is a series of meetings in September.”

Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Healthcare Assn. of Southern California, which represents the local private hospitals, saw more at work here than health care.

“Is it coincidental that the plan was released as the court is preparing to rule on lawsuits filed regarding this matter?” Lott asked in a letter sent to Mikels and Schillo. “Was this plan drafted to provide you with a vehicle by which you could use public resources to campaign against the proposed ballot initiative without reprisal?”

But Kathy Long, the board’s chairwoman, dismissed such criticism, saying the public hearings are simply meant to educate voters.

Hufford’s plan is vague on details, but he said he would clarify it as more proposals come in from the public hearings.

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He calls for sharing the money with nonprofit public health groups such as the Cancer Society, American Lung Assn., AIDS Awareness and the American Red Cross. Other funds would flow to unions such as the California Nurses Assn.

Money would also be spent on mental health, the Ventura County Medical Center, tobacco education, immunizations, clinics and care for the indigent, he said.

Hufford also talked of ways to make the settlement money grow through investments.

During the public hearings, supervisors plan to ask each person attending to write down their five top health care priorities. Supervisors will also meet with executives from the private hospitals, currently aligned with Community Memorial and its initiative.

“I’m hoping the greater good of health care will prevail,” Mikels said. “We want to discuss their needs and discuss ways to keep them solid.”

Mikels and Schillo will come back with a master plan to present to the full board.

Meanwhile, Superior Court Judge Henry Walsh, who is reviewing the legality of the tobacco initiative, is expected to come back with a decision in coming days.

“Regardless of what happens with the initiative,” Mikels said. “The health care needs of the county are not going away.”