December 5, 2022 - Only a few days ago, news of the closure of the Home Health and Hospice program of the JCF Healthcare District was made public by individuals in the community with knowledge of this matter. As far as we are aware, there has been no official public announcement, community discussion, or rationale provided to the residents within the service area of the District for the closure of Home Health and Hospice. Certainly, Foundation Board members were not apprised of this significant change. Our brief, informal conversations with other organizational stakeholders have revealed that no one attempted to communicate to them information about this major change of services for an extremely vulnerable population had been made to them, including information related to efforts to retain these critical programs.

Given that Mariposa County is comprised of nearly one third of individuals 65 and older, that over 14% are disabled (Census, 2020), that at any time any one of us can have a health crisis that requires one or more of these important services, and the difficulty in getting services to rural areas of the county, we feel that Home Health and Hospice are essential services to retain in this community. As such, the JCF Hospital Foundation, in its capacity to provide support to the Healthcare District, would like the Board to consider doing the following:

1. Delay any closure of Home Health and Hospice by a minimum of 6 months.
   
   
2. Work as a partner within the community and convene interested residents and organizational stakeholders to discuss the financial capacity issues of the Home Health and Hospice program and potential solutions to retain these services.
   
   
3. The Foundation Board will consider a funding request for an outside expert to review Home Health and Hospice financials, including the billing codes used to fund these services, to determine gaps and opportunities. If the District has already performed such an analysis, we would like a copy furnished to the community to inform further discussions on potential solutions.
   
   
4. If the District Board finds that these services are not financially viable, the Foundation Board will commit to work with the District, community, and all stakeholders to find another solution, if possible. For example, in some other counties, Home Health and Hospice is an independent nonprofit organization. We would ask for the District’s full cooperation in providing HIPPA compliant, de-identified historic data to assist in making informed decisions.

We recognize that no one person can be an expert in all aspects of healthcare and feel strongly that leveraging other partners within and outside the community to find solutions is an approach that facilitates communication, empathy, and deep service to the community the Healthcare District was originally formed to support.

The JCF Hospital Foundation is rebuilding from the attrition brought on by the pandemic; we are extremely grateful to all prior members who held the Foundation together through extremely difficult times. Although a majority of our members are new, and all officers including myself are new, we each bring significant skills from our varied professional backgrounds. We all stand ready to be a partner in this effort in support of the District and community wellness.

Sincerely,

Heather Bernikoff, MS
President
JCF Hospital Foundation