The Department of Public Health announced today that Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center (Laguna Honda) resumed admissions and began welcoming home former residents who were moved out of the facility during the recertification process.
Laguna Honda Hospital is finally coming out the other side of a difficult administrative struggle that almost led to shutting it down for lack of funds after federal and state regulators decertified it in 2022.
Although Laguna Honda Hospital has avoided a shutdown and been approved for recertification to continue ststate-funded Medicaid funding of patients, it still has another major hurdle to jump as renewal of federal-funded Medicare resources remains uncertain.
In a major victory for the City and County of San Francisco, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) today approved Laguna Honda Hospital (LHH) for Medicaid recertification, meaning critical Medicaid dollars will continue to flow to the institution.
For the third time in a year, regulatory authorities granted Laguna Honda Hospital a pause in transferring out all of its patients, but with a warning that this will be the last time it will receive an extension.
More than 600 Laguna Honda Hospital patients got another reprieve from being removed from the facility as the City and federal government agencies try to iron out a solution to the problems that have plagued the facility.
When 45-year-old Felipe Martinez suffered a massive stroke that left him unable to stand, walk, swallow or handle any of the activities of daily living, the one thing he was certain of was that Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center wasn’t for him. Now in his early 60s and after 17 years of intensive physical therapy as a resident patient there, he’s regained some of those skills and his feelings about the hospital have changed. “I don’t know what I will do if they close Laguna Honda down.”
Laguna Honda Hospital got a break when San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu’s fight with federal and California State authorities halted the eviction of more than 600 patients on Medicare or Medicaid until next February.
After losing its certification to receive Medicare and Medicaid payments, thus requiring the transfer of more than 600 patients, Laguna Honda Hospital now faces more challenges, including the potential loss of 120 beds and dealing with a recent COVID-19 outbreak.
After losing its certification to receive Medicare and Medicaid payments, thus requiring the transfer of more than 600 patients, Laguna Honda Hospital now faces more challenges, including the potential loss of 120 beds and dealing with a recent COVID-19 outbreak.
There’s a good reason. It has nothing to do with the stated rationale for closing. There is nothing wrong with the hospital facilities, which were rebuilt after the overwhelming passage of a bond issue. There’s no demand for its closing, rather the reverse.
I am shocked that there has not been more outrage at what has befallen Laguna Honda Hospital and the 681 patients that call Laguna Honda Hospital home.
Federal and state regulators have paused all patient transfers and discharges from Laguna Honda Hospital after nine patients died following their removal from the facility.
The transfer and discharge of residents has been challenging as many have complex healthcare needs. Yesterday, regulators agreed to the City’s urgent request to pause all transfers at Laguna Honda Hospital. Accordingly, as of today, Laguna Honda will pause the discharge and transfer of all residents. This impacts approximately 600 residents.
Although technically it will remain operational, San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital faces the daunting task of relocating nearly 700 low-income patients to other hospitals by Sept. 15 after a federal oversight agency decertified it this past April.
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 