WHEREAS, revenues at San Francisco General Hospital were lower than budgeted in FY 1997-98 because of reduced Medi-Cal and Medicare payments and because of increased uncompensated care which is unreimbursed; and,

WHEREAS, the budget for FY 1998-99 maintained the prior year revenue estimates at SFGH which results in overstatement of revenues to the hospital for the current year; and,

WHEREAS, the plans of correction to the Department of Justice and the State Department of Health Services mandated a reduction of census at Laguna Honda Hospital, which further erodes Medi-Cal and Medicare revenues at the Community Health Network; and,

WHEREAS, the Department projects an annual revenue shortfall of between $16 and $22 million for the current fiscal year, which needs to be managed; and,

WHEREAS, the Department is committed to reducing the shortfall by managing its expenditure budget and reallocating funds across the Department; and,

WHEREAS, the Department has presented a plan to reduce the shortfall by imposing a hiring freeze, deferring equipment and capital expenditures, deferring selective new programs and initiatives, reducing non-critical expenditures in other accounts including contractual services, materials and supplies, finance and Management Information System, (MIS); and,

WHEREAS, the plan also includes increasing revenues through expanded Medi-Cal eligibility efforts, renegotiating our per diem Medi-Cal reimbursement for acute care, and expanding the Medi-Cal Administrative Claiming Program throughout the Department; and,

WHEREAS, the Department has also proposed a long term strategy to reduce reliance on expensive acute care services and expand the use of community based and non-institutional care in order to bring our revenues in line with expenditures, and,

WHEREAS, the Health Commission supports the Department's short term and long term plan to balance the current year and future budgets; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the Health Commission endorses the Department's commitment to close the current year gap between revenues and expenditures within internal resources, and supports the Department's expenditure reduction plan for the current year; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Health Commission supports the Department's commitment to develop long term strategy to bring expenditures in line with its actual revenue collections.

I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Health Commission at its meeting of Tuesday, November 17, 1998.

Sandy Ouye Mori, Executive Secretary to the Health Commission