County OKs Thousand Oaks Health-Care Clinic for Needy : Supervisors: The facility is expected to open by February, offering outpatient services to the uninsured and those on Medi-Cal.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to open a new clinic in Thousand Oaks to treat needy residents, after debating whether national health care might make it unnecessary.

The Conejo Valley Family Care Center, expected to open by February in a former bank building on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, will provide outpatient services to uninsured patients and those on Medi-Cal.

Few Thousand Oaks physicians accept Medi-Cal patients, and poor residents seeking outpatient care must either crowd into small, part-time clinics in Simi Valley and Moorpark or trek to the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura.

The unanimous decision to pay for the clinic came despite concerns by Supervisor John K. Flynn that it might conflict with federally funded health plans that may guarantee medical care for everyone.

Flynn questioned whether such a clinic would be profitable once a national health-care plan is implemented.

“We need to be careful about going down this road,” Flynn said. “We need to watch it closely.”

H. Jere Robings, president of the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers, concurred: “If everyone is going to be covered under a national health-care program, we probably won’t need clinics for indigent care.”

Supervisor Vicky Howard, an outspoken supporter of the Thousand Oaks clinic, countered that the county should work to meet the needs of its residents and not try to second-guess what the federal government may do. She also said the west county already has several clinics such as the one planned for Thousand Oaks.

“The east county is underserved. We aren’t going to abruptly close the clinics in the west county because of a possible conflict,” she said. “We should go ahead with this and make sure we have the flexibility to adjust when the national plan goes through.”

A staff report predicted that in its first five months of operation, the clinic, a satellite of Ventura County Medical Center, would cost nearly $239,000. It would pay for itself, however, in patient revenues from Medi-Cal and would generate an $11,000 profit.

Richard Wittenberg, the county’s chief administrative officer, said similar county clinics in Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Paula are profitable. The clinics are operated by physician groups under contract, and are funded largely through Medi-Cal payments.

County health officials said the push for a clinic in Thousand Oaks is part of a larger effort to improve care for poor residents in the east county. In the past five years, the number of Medi-Cal recipients in the east county has escalated from fewer than 1,000 to more than 7,000.

“We really have a lot of patients out there whose needs aren’t being met,” said Jonette Duchai, associate administrator with the county medical center. “Private physicians do not want to take care of Medi-Cal recipients so we’re trying to fill that gap.”

The board in May approved a plan to move the Simi Valley clinic to a site double the size of its current space, operate it full time, and increase the number of physicians from one to four. The new Simi Valley clinic is scheduled to open in December.

Officials also are seeking a larger site for the tiny Moorpark clinic, now open one day a week.

“There’s a real need for access to primary care,” said Dr. Nat Baumer, who heads the emergency room at the county hospital and will oversee operations at the new Simi Valley clinic. “These clinics are providing services that will keep people healthier and prevent them from ending up in the emergency room.”