Laguna Honda Outlines Recertification Plans To SF Health Commission

SAN FRANCISCO — Following its termination from the Medicare and Medicaid Provider Programs last April, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center gave updates on its recertification process at a San Francisco Health Commission meeting on Tuesday.

Laguna Honda, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center in San Francisco that serves many low-income individuals, was slated to close and either discharge or relocate over 500 patients when they lost compliance in 2022.

Earlier this month, San Francisco supervisors approved a $2.2 million settlement for a patient abuse scandal at Laguna Honda from 2016 to 2019 after a 2019 investigation from the California Department of Public Health determined that the hospital failed to protect patients from abuse and privacy breaches. This lawsuit came before the certification revocation in April 2022.

The hospital now plans to submit a recertification application this summer, despite many "moving parts" with its improvement plans, said the hospital's interim CEO Roland Pickens.
While the application has been done for months, according to Pickens, the hospital awaits the Center for Medicare and Medicaid's Services, or CMS, latest deficiency survey, which details the hospital's latest regulatory issues. When the hospital receives this report, the hospital will work with a CMS expert to make improvements before submitting the application.

The hospital has been working "since the day of decertification" last April to make substantive changes based on the CMS findings of regulatory misconduct.

Among these improvements, Pickens said, is the implementation of a new program which brings in experts to more bedsides of patients called the Consistent Care at the Bedside Initiative, or CCBM.

This initiative, which was implemented three weeks ago, involves consultants that provide mentorship and on-the-job training to current staff. Since the initiative's start, Pickens said, leadership has been exposed to problems with patient safety and regulatory concerns "in real time" as opposed to weeks or months later.

The hospital has also established new positions and began the hiring process to address some structural problems, including an executive director of facilities, engineering, fire life safety and capital projects and a director of emergency management and disaster preparedness.

Laguna Honda faces a deadline of Sept. 19, 2023 to be recertified before involuntary transfers of residents are forced to resume. However, the CMS has full discretion to order that Laguna Honda close and discharge or relocate all patients if they feel that the hospital is not making sufficient progress.

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