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List/Netherby/17″/CW1st/mark2nd Name Kellye is cq. By JENNIFER NETHERBY Staff Reporter San Fernando Valley hospitals are giving up bed space and will continue to do so as health providers push for more outpatient treatment, merge with other hospitals or abandon outdated facilities. “We’re talking a transformation here, big time,” said Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Healthcare Association of Southern California. “People who used to be competitors are talking about strategic alliances. The competitors of yesterday will be the partners of tomorrow. That’s radical.” Hospitals in the San Fernando Valley are closely mirroring those trends. There are few independent hospitals left in the area, with most owned by larger companies. For instance, UniHealth Corp. owns Northridge Hospital Medical Center (3rd on the list), and Columbia HCA owns Columbia West Hills Medical Center (13th on the list). While the number of mergers statewide slowed in 1998 over 1997, Lott predicted that acquisitions will pick up in the coming years as companies merge for improved cost efficiencies and a discount on goods and services. “It’s cheaper to negotiate as a system,” Lott said. “There will always be independents, but by and large the mergers will continue to evolve as health care does. The bottom line is it’s survivability.” Lott said that while the number of independently owned hospitals is decreasing, there will always be some that are able to stick around. Valley Presbyterian sent out a letter earlier this year announcing that it plans to stay independent, breaking off four years of talks with Tenet Healthcare and Catholic Healthcare West. “Our board of directors decided to remain independent in light of their desire to serve the community,” said Kellye Tarelka, marketing director at Valley Presbyterian. Tarelka said Valley is able to stay independent largely because it is profitable at a time when most hospitals are not. Other independents, such as Santa Clarita’s Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, have shopped around for partnerships. While the number of companies operating hospitals is falling, so are the number of beds in those hospitals. By 2002, Lott estimates that the number of beds will drop 26 percent from current levels. At present, there are about 50 percent more beds than needed statewide, Lott said. In the last 20 years, the industry has also made advances in patient treatment through outpatient treatment, leading to shorter hospital stays. The average hospital stay has decreased to four days from about six days in the 1970s, Lott said. “There’s fewer patients that are inpatients and those that are, are in for shorter periods of time,” he said. Some hospitals will likely move to new, smaller facilities following implementation of a 1994 state law requiring hospitals to meet tougher earthquake safety standards. Since many hospitals were built in the 1970s, it is believed many facilities will need major renovations. For now at least, most in the San Fernando Valley held steady in the number of beds in 1998. However, the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills reduced by 20 percent its bed space. The number of beds declined from 317 beds in 1997 to 256 licensed beds in 1998. Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley lost six beds to bring the total to 242. Valley Presbyterian added seven beds, as part of its newly expanded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, bringing the hospital total to 354. Even so, the hospital had the lowest occupancy rate in the Valley 49 percent of those facilities reporting their numbers. The Motion Picture hospital had the highest occupancy rate reported in Valley hospitals at 78.7 percent.