Lompoc Valley Medical Center will purchase Sansum Clinic’s medical facility in Lompoc for $8.75 million, months after officials said they had started exploring the possibility.
The Lompoc hospital district’s board of directors recently approved the purchase of the 15-year-old, 30,908-square-foot building and its interior assets at 1225 North H St.
“This will allow LVMC to solidify the physician coverage and stabilize primary care and urgent care for all residents of the district,” said Ray Down, board chairman. “We are pleased that the board and management have been able to operate, over the past years, in such a manner that we are able to make this purchase and ancillary transaction from existing cash reserves, with no additional financing required.”
Hospital district officials said they will continue to partner with Sansum Clinic and Cottage Health, which provide specialty care not available in Lompoc.
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“The transition provides stability to a quality physician network, and assures our community maintains access to local high-quality health-care services,” CEO Jim Raggio said. “Additionally, it preserves more than 50 jobs in Lompoc, and strengthens the referral base for LVMC.
“The community, Sansum Clinic and LVMC all win with this transition,” Raggio added.
When officials announced in late August that they were exploring the acquisition, Raggio said he wanted to bring back the urgent care facility that Sansum had previously closed. Eventually, they hope to have the urgent care available seven days a week.
Plans also call for reopening an on-site draw station at the former Sansum building.
Escrow is expected to be finalized by Jan 2. Once completed, the district will will add 50 non-clinical full-time and two part-time Sansum employees.
In anticipation of the transition, 10 physicians have signed professional service agreements to practice at the facility.
They are: Daryl Burgess, DO; Cathy Straights, MD; Rosa Ital, MD; Lawrence Li, MD; Wayne Jonas, MD; Liberty Partridge, MD; Gabriella Snow, MD; Sandra Wilson, MD; Farooq Husayn, MD and Abhiskhek Mehta, MD, MPH.
Hospital representatives said the physicians represent the specialties of family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and urgent care.
Additionally, other medical professionals will see patients at the facility, including a family medicine nurse practitioner, a pediatric nurse practitioner, an urgent care nurse practitioner, and two physical therapists.
Two Sansum physicians, Dr. Richard Onishi and Dr. Sharon Kim, made plans to relocate, hospital representatives said.
Hospital officials have created a webpage, available by clicking here, to answer questions about medical records, insurance and doctors accepting new patients.
Lompoc’s hospital at 1515 E. Ocean Ave. is unique in that it is operated by a special district, reportedly the first of its kind in the state.
In addition to the hospital, the district also operates the Comprehensive Care Center, a post-acute rehabilitation and skilled nursing facility; a Sleep Disorder Center, and more.
However, the district’s effort to turn the old hospital building into a 21st century chemical dependency treatment facility known as the Champion Center ended with the site’s closure after it failed to meet financial goals and struggled to keep key staff jobs filled.
Sansum Clinic boasts of being the oldest independent, multi-specialty provider of outpatient health-care services on the Central Coast, and the last remaining independent medical foundation in California.
The organization’s roots date back to 1921 with the creation of the original Sansum Medical Clinic and the Santa Barbara Medical Clinic.
Date: Nov 30, 2018