MURRIETA: City leaders see business move as start of shift

With one hospital in town and another under construction, city leaders dream of one day being home to a thriving medical corridor, featuring companies that work in medical supplies and emerging technology.

The recent announcement by a Temecula dermatology office that it intends to move to Murrieta within the next six months is the first indication that the city's vision could one day become a reality.

Missi Heinichen, a representative for Dermatologist Specialists: Associates, said the office's move is intended to resolve a space issue. Their current facility on Ynez Road is between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet and their new office on Medical Center Drive in Murrieta will be 8,000 square feet. But, she said, location was also a primary reason for the move.

"Location had a lot to do with it," Heinichen said. "The location (in Murrieta) is close to a new medical facility."

Dermatologist Specialists, based in Oceanside, also has offices in Fallbrook, Escondido and Solano Beach. The business, which has been located in Temecula for at least 10 years, features a full dermatology lab including skin care, cosmetic procedures and micrograph surgery for skin cancer treatment, Heinichen said.

Mayor Gary Thomasian said the move is the first evidence that the City Council's goal to promote Murrieta as a hub for medical businesses is working.

"It's happening," Thomasian said. "There are supporting businesses that want to come to the area."

The news is a glimmer of hope for city officials, whose expectations of a prosperous local medical community have been dampened by a series of misfortunes.

Murrieta is currently home to Rancho Springs Medical Center, a private hospital under close watch by federal health officials for what inspectors say is a history of noncompliance with state and federal standards. A new building on that campus has been sitting stocked and empty while federal officials work with the hospital administrator, Southwest Healthcare System, to bring the hospital into compliance with state and federal health regulations.

And by early 2011, Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta, is expected to open. The facility is planned to be a teaching hospital, which would include an emergency room, laparoscopic surgery center, general and acute care services including cardiovascular, obstetrics, pediatrics, urology and orthopedics.

But that hospital is also in jeopardy. At least two national health care reform bills contain provisions that would stop its construction because a major share of the hospital is owned by physicians, who, bill drafters say, might select to treat wealthier patients who can afford pricier services, leaving other hospitals to treat lower-income patients.

Murrieta leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier this month and called on state officials to intervene on behalf of each of the hospitals. They have started petition drives, letter-writing campaigns and have contacted state and federal representatives regarding both issues.

While their primary concern is to provide healthcare to the 500,000 residents of Southwest County, they also are pushing hard to support the two hospitals because city leaders are pinning much of their hopes for Murrieta's future on the medical community.

In a move that would change the course of future development in the city, officials are rewriting the city's General Plan ---- the long-term blueprint for development. As part of that process they will consider changing the land-use designation of land near Loma Linda-Murrieta, the future hospital being built at Interstate 215 and Clinton Keith Road. While much of that land is currently pegged for rural and estate residential development, city leaders have said they are interested in redesignating that land for professional office development, in the hopes that medical businesses will set up shop there.

"The General Plan update work will be designed to create the basis for a future job base around (Loma Linda-Murrieta), around Rancho Springs," said Bruce Coleman, Murrieta's director of economic development.

City officials have also worked to recruit medical technical businesses at conferences throughout Southern California and through personal meetings.

"We already have the beginning of a hub," Coleman said. "This is setting the state for the city's future economic diversification."

Call staff writer Nelsy Rodriguez at 951-676-4315, ext. 2626.