Supervisors urge state and federal pause on transfers from Laguna Honda after four post-transfer deaths

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution unanimously on July 26 urging state and federal health authorities to halt the planned relocation and transfer of patients from Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center until the hospital is recertified.

The resolution, introduced by Supervisor Melgar, asks Governor Gavin Newsom to proclaim a state of emergency for San Francisco County, urges California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to withdraw its approval of the hospital’s closure and transfer plan to the extent that it requires relocation of all patients within four months, and asks U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Javier Becerra to suspend a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement on relocating patients. The board also amended the resolution to ask CMS to extend Medicare and Medi‑Cal payments through the date of a recertification determination. The amended resolution records that four people had died after transfers as of July 20, 2022.

Why it matters: Supervisors and advocates said the rapid transfers would place San Francisco’s most medically fragile and elderly patients at risk because there are few, if any, comparable long‑term…