Local residents seeking post-treatment care at the Sharp Cabrillo Skilled Nursing Facility in Point Loma will have to look beyond their own backyard next year. The 76-bed facility will close when its lease expires April 3. “Operations have been at a significant loss,” said John Cihomsky, vice president of public relations for Sharp Cabrillo. Cihomsky said many factors forced the decision to close the facility, including the age and maintenance costs of the building, low insurance reimbursement rates for treatment, high utility costs, increased medical supply costs and lease expenses. In addition, Cihomsky said the skilled nursing center lost about $7 million last year. “We looked at the losses and what the market has as capacity for these patients,” Cihomsky said. “We saw that there was an excess of capacity in the county.” There are 82 other skilled nursing facilities in the county, 45 of which are within a 15-mile radius of Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa. And of the patients discharged from Sharp Memorial who required additional care, 35 percent were sent to Sharp Cabrillo Skilled Nursing Facility – the other 65 percent were sent to the 82 non-Sharp facilities. Sharp Cabrillo provided acute care in Point Loma until 1999. The facility now handles only patients who have received treatment at Sharp Memorial and require care afterward. “They’re not ready to go home but don’t need to be in an acute-care hospital bed,” Cihomsky said. Currently, Sharp Cabrillo has about 70 patients, with an average patient stay of 23 days. The patients who have already been admitted into the facility will not be affected by the closing, said hospital officials. “Patients there now will continue receiving care. They will be discharged well before the closing,” Cihomsky said. “Other patients who require a longer stay will be sent to an appropriate facility to meet their needs,” he said. The facility will limit admissions beginning in January and will not take in patients who require long-term care. By the end of February, all patients there will be discharged or, if necessary, sent to other skilled nursing facilities in the area. Sharp Cabrillo employs a total of 201 people, according to hospital officials. Cihomsky said Sharp is helping employees at the Point Loma facility to find new jobs within the organization by holding job fairs and giving them priority on open positions. “We’re trying to help all those employees find jobs within Sharp Healthcare,” Cihomsky said. With many companies facing financial issues in a struggling economy, Cihomsky said the move by Sharp is not an indication of shaky financial status. “In order to provide the best patient care, we need to be financially fit,” Cihomsky said. “Patients want the latest technology, and the money that we don’t have to spend in places we don’t need to is best for the overall organization.” As for the building itself, Cihomsky said Sharp is leasing it from Loma Cabrillo, LLC. The building used to be called Doctor’s Hospital and was purchased and renamed by Sharp in 1981.