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.
Disturbingly, a “revised closure plan” to be shared between City and State (California Department of Public Health, an enforcement arm of CMS) is being kept secret illegally.
Normalization of operations at LHH MUST be de-coupled from closure, discharges & bed cuts. There has been enough stress, sickness and death from this cruel exercise! This insanity by all levels of government must stop!
The city is laudably doing a big share of the work by funding & overseeing the stabilization of LHH. Part of this stabilization MUST include government funding of safe and local settings outside Laguna Honda for those with active substance use & unstable mental illness.
We must remember that the rights of nursing home residents support autonomy. This is NOT compatible with treatment of persons with unstable behavioral issues, which requires structure and agreement to “house rules.” If LHH continues to violate legal admission criteria by admitting persons with active substance use or unstable mental illness we will lose Laguna Honda.
Please speak out for saving Laguna Honda with all of its beds intact, and to fund alternatives for those who need care in other settings:
To testify (remotely or in person): December 13 at 4 pm, instructions may be found online after Friday December 9 within the agenda at the San Francisco Health Commission (https://sf.gov/public-body/san-francisco-health-commission). Scroll down to Upcoming Meetings and look for the Laguna Honda Joint Conference Committee.
Please also contact our state and national representatives.
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