By Teresa Palmer, MD - Geriatrics / Family Practice
(Attending Physician at Laguna Honda 1989-2004)
[This is a follow-up to the article in the September HANC Voice, https://www.hanc-sf.org/24-home/714-what-happened-at-laguna-honda]
Our City Attorney dropped his lawsuit defending Laguna Honda Hospital (LHH) in mid- October. In return, the Feds (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services-CMS) agreed to delay defunding LHH until November of 2023, BUT to delay required discharges and closure only until February of 2023 (with the possibility of extension for good behavior).
This delay is to give LHH time to meet Federal criteria to resume normal operations. Closure, discharges and bed cuts are still very much on the table -despite the extreme shortage of safe nursing home beds for the poor everywhere.