DPH opens 822 Geary stabilization unit and Laguna Honda earns 5-star CMS rating, officials say

Deputy Director Bava presented the Department of Public Health's Director's Report and highlighted three operational items: a new short-stay behavioral health stabilization unit at 822 Geary, planned openings of recovery-supportive bed programs this summer, and a five-star Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rating awarded to Laguna Honda Hospital.

Bava described 822 Geary as "a critical resource" for responding to people experiencing behavioral health crises on the street. The stabilization unit opened the prior week with four operational beds and will ramp up to 16 over the following six to eight weeks, she said. The unit can hold patients for up to 23 hours to stabilize them and arrange next-step care; Bava said the stabilization unit aims to reduce burdens on emergency departments and give street teams an on-the-ground option.

Funding and bedlines Bava said 822 Geary is funded by Proposition C and Medi-Cal and that, because of those dedicated sources, the department considers the site sustainable so long as the funding streams continue. She reported that the unit had served about a dozen people in its first days and that the clinical milieu would be defined as the program scales up.

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