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Dear Friend,
 “The Jewish Home has a real future, a profoundly positive future.”
I have been emphasizing this view in all my recent communications with residents, family members, staff, volunteers, and key external stakeholders. These are not empty words. It is the conviction held by the Jewish Home of San Francisco’s lay leadership and senior staff.
Thus – notwithstanding the state of California’s proposed 2012 budget and what amounts to an unprecedented 23 percent reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement to the Jewish Home, as well as our immediate financial operational challenges – we are actively working toward and in many areas already generating our future.
The goal of my message is to highlight some of the real progress we have achieved to date:
Economic efficiency reaches highest level to date
As we carry out our principled process of change, I am pleased to share with you that, due to the hard work at all levels of the organization, the Jewish Home is now operating at its greatest level of economic efficiency to date. And I am proud to say that this is being achieved without impacting our quality delivery of care – a standard that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recognizes by giving the Home its highest rating of five stars.
Expanded short-stay programs
We are already serving more short-stay patients in both our STARS (short-term and rehabilitation services) program and in our acute geriatric psychiatry hospital. To exemplify: Last year’s average daily census for our short-stay rehab program was 34; today it is 41. Last year’s average daily census in our acute psychiatry hospital was one. Our daily census now stands at five patients.
These programs are key community resources, and as they expand in order to serve a greater number of people, it is anticipated that they will continue to make even more significant contributions to the Home’s financial viability. Being on solid financial footing means that the Home will be able to support frail, older adults for generations to come – taking care of individuals’ long-term care needs and providing charitable care.
The transformed Jewish Home is being aligned with the reality of health care reform and the new way in which care will be delivered and funded in the future. We therefore look forward to serving a greater number of older adults across a broader spectrum of the caring continuum, such as independent living, assisted living, memory support units, and community-based health care services, with less reliance on government funding.
Transition of residents
Due to the planned closure of our oldest residential wing, the transfer of these residents to other existing locations on our campus is now being thoughtfully and sensitively implemented. Under the leadership of Sandra Simon, chief administrative officer, and Edwin Cabigao, chief nursing officer, an interdisciplinary team has developed a comprehensive transition plan, ranging from personal meetings with residents, family members and staff, to the creation of a transition team to implement the plan and quality improvement tools in the form of transfer checklists and transition risk assessments. At the time of this writing, 10 residents have transitioned – all with an extremely high level of satisfaction.
Enhanced communications
We continue to enhance and increase the frequency of our communications with our key stakeholders. For example, we have informed them that, as a result of the internal movement of existing Jewish Home residents, all external long-term care admissions have been suspended for approximately 24 months. We have also communicated this information to the 400-plus prospective residents on the Jewish Home’s waiting list. Staff is actively working with and assisting those on the list who have an immediate need for accommodation in a long-term care facility. By placing communiqués in the media and dedicating space on our Jewish Home website (go to www.jhsf.org/boldvision
), we are ensuring that our evolving future plans are broadly disseminated.
Implementation of a traditional model of physician oversight/coverage
The Jewish Home is currently implementing a traditional skilled nursing model of physician oversight and coverage, whereby our physicians will be reimbursed directly from the state of California on a fee-for-service basis. I am pleased to report that discussions with our physicians are advancing at this time, and the senior leadership team does not anticipate any disruption and certainly no diminution in the high-quality medical care provided to our residents.
Personnel and union discussions
Leadership of the Jewish Home is actively working with the union leadership of SEIU-UHW regarding the Home’s meeting its financial objectives, and to do so in a thoughtful and productive manner. We recognize that our most important resources are the people who work at the Home. We have not only a contractual requirement but a moral obligation to work with our contractual staff and their representatives as we implement changes. We are pleased that the unions’ leadership has acknowledged the significant short- and long-term financial issues facing the Jewish Home and the industry in general. It is in this spirit of collaboration and cooperation that we are mutually striving to identify and effect strategies to achieve the Home’s financial goals.
Lobbying efforts
The fate of the state of California’s budget cuts is now in the hands of the federal government. According to the trailer bill language, the implementation – or not – of the Medi-Cal cuts will be determined on a federal level. We have therefore turned our attention to meeting with officials connected with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to lobby against the implementation of these cuts. We will keep you posted as to the outcome of these meetings.
I look forward to sharing further updates about our ongoing efforts and achievements.
Daniel Ruth
President & Chief Executive Officer
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