Cottage Board Approves Recommendations for Future Services at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital

November 3, 2005 -- Following nine months of careful analysis by physicians, management, strategic planners and financial consultants, a recommended plan for services at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital has been approved by the Cottage Health System board of directors.

The proposed scope of services focuses on a state-of-the-art community and surgical subspeciality hospital which would serve the needs of both medical and surgical patients. The new construction, estimated to cost between $65 and $85 million and without public funding, would also meet new seismic safety requirements mandated for all acute-care hospitals in California.

The Cottage board endorsed the medical staff proposal for services that would complement and be coordinated with those planned for the new Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, minimizing unnecessary duplication yet providing sufficient capacity for the future.

To be located on the current hospital campus at Hollister and Patterson, while allowing the existing facility to remain operational throughout the multi-year construction project and continuing the easy accessibility that the hospital affords today, the new Goleta facility would focus on the following programs:

• Medical/surgical inpatient beds
• Conversion of critical care beds to a definitive observation unit for short-term, less critical patients
• A new and expanded emergency department
• Inpatient and outpatient surgical services
• Complete imaging services
• Laboratory and pathology services

Additional recommendations include consolidating obstetrical services and staff at SBCH; annual births at GVCH average 400, and at SBCH are more than 2,500 with additional high-risk pregnancy and critically ill newborn services. This change, however,   will not occur until the new women's services wing has been completed at SBCH approximately five years from now.

The board endorsed retaining subacute services within the Cottage system, although location options still need to be finalized.

New services at Goleta include the development of an outpatient hyperbaric and wound care program which will open in 2006 in the existing facility. Furthermore, in the future hospital, the design will be such that additional inpatient and outpatient services and programs can be added as the need and opportunity arise.

The Goleta project will also include design and construction of a new medical office building on the hospital.

Currently licensed for 122 acute-care beds, the not-for-profit Goleta hospital has seen increased inpatient, surgical and emergency department activity over the past two years--particularly since the closing of St. Francis Medical Center in June of 2003. Together with improved reimbursement contracts, this activity has resulted in a new positive operating margin for the Goleta facility and renewed optimism for the 40-year-old hospital. The average number of acute-care patients in recent months has stayed steady at around 20 each night, and the new plan envisions a facility that would accommodate future growth.

In order for continuing success at Goleta, Cottage president and CEO Ron Werft stressed the need for strong physician support as well as support from the City of Goleta, along with the ability to manage rising construction costs and to generate a new level of financial support from the community.

Goleta Valley Community Hospital was founded in 1966 to meet the needs of the growing community of Goleta. Its board of trustees initially approached Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in 1994 regarding a possible affiliation between the two not-for-profit organizations. This ultimately occurred in 1996 with the formation of the Cottage Health System.

Today, Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital employs 260 people, admits 2,000 patients a year, treats 17,000 people in its emergency department, and offers a range of inpatient and outpatient medical and surgical services.

Cottage Health System, the not-for-profit parent organization of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and its associated Cottage Children's Hospital, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital, and Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, is guided by a volunteer board of directors from the greater Santa Barbara community. Its mission lies in providing the highest standard of healthcare services through a commitment to continuous improvements in safety, quality, patient satisfaction, health education, research, efficiency and community health.

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