To meet the evolving needs and advances in senior care, the Jewish Home has grown to a nine-acre comprehensive care center, currently serving approximately 400 residents with diverse care needs. In the past few years, the Home has expanded to offer specialty geriatric care through its short-term and rehabilitation services program and acute geriatric psychiatry hospital.
In an attempt to narrow its $26.6 billion dollar deficit, the state of California’s recently signed 2012 budget includes a dramatic reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement to certain provider groups, which includes the Jewish Home of San Francisco. The devastating bottom-line impact to the Home is that its cash deficit is projected to balloon in excess of $20 million in 2012. As the second-largest distinct part nursing facility (DPNF) in California, with 86 percent of our residents Medi-Cal beneficiaries, this is an untenable threshold for the Home and, more significantly, unsustainable in our near and long term.
Other factors driving the Jewish Home’s need for immediate change include, but are not limited to: our aging physical plant; the Home being misaligned with federal/state health care reform initiatives that will alter the way health care is delivered in the future; and changing health care consumer expectations/interests and needs.
Effective March 31, 2011, the Jewish Home’s board of trustees made the very difficult decision to begin the closure of nursing units in the oldest building housing residents. This building, due to outdated structural systems, inefficient design to address the needs of an ever-increasing frailty of residents, and high maintenance costs, is not part of our Silver Avenue campus’s long-term plans. The residents of these nursing units will be moved to rooms in the Goodman and Koret buildings on our campus as they become vacant.
The direct impact of this internal movement of existing Jewish Home residents is that ALL external long-term care admissions (i.e., those emanating from the community) are being temporarily suspended.
In its 140th year since its founding, the Jewish Home takes its responsibility for serving our entire community very seriously. We pay homage to our origins, serving the most frail and vulnerable in our community. We will continue to do so by strategically repositioning ourselves while remaining responsive and responsible community stewards. This necessitates being financially viable so that future generations will benefit from the care and services provided.
Should you have any questions whatsoever, you are welcome to call Catherine Reid, our director of Social Services & Admissions, at 415.469.2246.
When you’re at Home, you’re family.
