Doctor ends retirement to run Calif. hospital

A California hospital that has been shuttered for more than a year will be reopened under a new bankruptcy plan, and a physician who spent most of his career serving patients there has come out of retirement to oversee the revival.

The only hospital serving the Santa Clara Valley for decades, Santa Paula Memorial abruptly closed on Dec. 19, 2003, and filed for bankruptcy.

Ventura County was allowed to buy the hospital and its buildings for about $2.75 million while some other hospital property was sold to pay creditors. The county would operate the hospital through its health care agency, which already runs Ventura County Medical Center and a network of clinics.

The plan was accepted by the bankruptcy court in April and was expected to be finalized in May, said Sam Edwards, MD, who will become the hospital's administrator. The 50-bed facility could reopen sometime in late fall.

Dr. Edwards, an internist, practiced in the community for 25 years and at one time ran the hospital's intensive care unit. He later served as the administrator for VCMC before hanging up his white coat in 2002. But the promise of seeing Santa Paula reopen has lured him back to work.

"I've been in this community a long time, and the community was aghast when [the hospital] failed. So it would be a great privilege to be able to open it again. And I'm in a unique spot to be able to facilitate that, knowing what I know," he said.

Dr. Edwards knows he's got his work cut out for him. Before the takeover, VCMC must get assurances that it will be able to bill government programs for treatment at Santa Paula under its license. "In the meantime, I'm frantically preparing a hospital on paper," he said.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/05/09/bibf0509.htm.