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Committee forwards ordinance to create public guardian gift fund after hospital council support
Summary
The committee voted to forward an ordinance to create a Public Guardian/Public Administrator gift fund intended to support timelier conservatorship investigations; the Hospital Council told the committee delays cost an estimated $26 million over three years and offered to contribute to speed the process.
The Budget and Finance Committee voted to send to the Board of Supervisors an ordinance that would add a new San Francisco Administrative Code section creating a gift fund to support the Public Guardian/Public Administrator’s office in conducting needs assessments and conservatorship investigations.
Shereen McSpadden, deputy director at the Department of Aging and Adult Services, told the committee the public guardian is the office authorized under the California Probate Code to serve as conservator when no one else is able or willing. She said the conservatorship investigation — which assesses capacity, care needs and assets — can be time consuming and that the office lacks staff capacity to complete investigations quickly, which can delay hospital discharges.
McSpadden described a tentative arrangement with the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California under which hospitals could deposit funds into the proposed gift fund to help enhance operations. "We would receive $8,000 to us for every filing that we did within 28 days filing to the court," McSpadden said, adding that the arrangement would not affect the court's finding on conservatorship or result in different treatment of patients.
Budget analyst Mr. Rose reported the FY11–12 Human Services Agency budget already shows $327,006.14 in the gift fund and lists four positions budgeted at a total cost of $307,005.11; he noted that those positions had not been filled because no revenues had been collected to date and recommended approval of the ordinance.
Ron Smith of the Hospital Council told the committee delays in conservatorship processing keep patients in acute hospital beds and estimated "it costs the city and our hospitals $26,000,000, in unnecessary costs" over a three-year period. He said the council would like to help fund staffing to speed the process.
The committee heard no other public comment and forwarded the ordinance with recommendation.
