San Francisco’s Jewish Home, the Bay Area Jewish community’s largest skilled nursing facility, received good news last week from the California Legislature, which approved health care bills that will eliminate $21 million in retroactive Medi-Cal repayments that the home owed the state. Gov. Jerry Brown has said he will sign the bills in the coming weeks.
Senate Bill 22 and Assembly Bill 21 ease financial pressures on the state’s skilled nursing homes, which rely heavily on Medi-Cal funding. Among other benefits, the bills undo the $21.5 million assessed on the Jewish Home after the passage of AB 97 in 2011, which mandated a 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal reimbursements. Other skilled nursing homes with similarly assessed retroactive repayments were also absolved of the debt.
In addition to the 10 percent reductions, AB 97 Medi-Cal cuts were retroactive, which meant the Jewish Home had to pay back the state for a portion of reimbursements received between January 2012 and October 2013. On Feb. 29, the legislature reversed that, much to the relief of Jewish Home executives.
In a letter to the community, Jewish Home executive director Daniel Ruth wrote, “We will ultimately have the $21.5 million liability removed from the books of the Jewish Home once [the new laws] are a fait d’accompli. This development, coupled with the significantly improved financial performance of the Home over the past 18 months, ensures financial stability, thereby firmly solidifying the Home’s future for the benefit of our Jewish community’s frail and vulnerable elderly for generations to come.” — j. staff