Supervisors hear update on Laguna Honda recertification, press feds for pause on transfers

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors held a Committee of the Whole public hearing Jan. 31 to review Laguna Honda Hospital's progress toward recertification by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and to consider the hospital's revised closure, transfer and relocation planning.

Department of Public Health officials and Laguna Honda leadership described corrective work underway, while supervisors and advocates urged federal regulators to extend an administrative pause on transfers after earlier relocations were followed by multiple deaths.

Why it matters: Laguna Honda is San Francisco's long-term public skilled-nursing hospital serving people with complex medical, behavioral health and long-term care needs. The facility's CMS decertification in 2022 put roughly $200 million a year in federal funding at risk and led to a settlement that requires accelerated monitoring, a root-cause analysis (RCA) and a detailed action plan with hundreds of milestones to be met by mid-May.

Department of Public Health (DPH) official Dr. Grant Colfax said the department has asked CMS, via the city attorney, to pause transfers and that the city is "hopeful we will have an answer from CMS soon and hopefully before February 3." Dr. Colfax added, "the safety and health of our Laguna Honda residents is our number 1 priority." Roland Pickens, Laguna Honda's interim…