San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living and UCSF to Expand Partnership

SAN FRANCISCO CAMPUS FOR JEWISH LIVING AND UCSF TO EXPAND PARTNERSHIP

Geriatricians to Offer Care to Discharged Patients; New Medical Director to Provide Physician Leadership

July 27, 2021, San Francisco -- San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living (SFCJL) and UC San Francisco announced today that the UCSF Division of Geriatrics will provide short-term, rehabilitation care for UCSF patients at SFCJL, optimizing post-acute and transitional care for all patients. In addition, Dr. Michi Yukawa from UCSF will serve as the post-acute care medical director at SFCJL, cementing a 23-year partnership between the two institutions. 

The expanded partnership means that patients discharged from UCSF will receive high-quality care that will reduce the risk for complications and re-admissions and will span from the hospital to SFCJL and back to UCSF primary care. Up to 33 UCSF patients will be cared for at SFCJL at any one time, with potential future increases in both patients and staffing.

“This is a natural expansion of our very successful relationship,” said Daniel Ruth, CEO of SFCJL. “We could not be more pleased to have UCSF expanding their role in our campus clinical operations and we look forward to continuing to grow this important program in the coming years.”

Dr. Yukawa, a geriatric medicine specialist and professor in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics, will provide physician leadership and medical directorship of the Friedman Pavilion, the short-stay rehabilitation unit. She will work with UCSF hospitalists, other UCSF medical and surgical services, and primary care physicians to enhance the quality of the transition process for UCSF patients, lead education programs for SFCJL staff and integrate clinical fellows, residents and medical students into research and quality improvement projects.

“I am honored to lead the initiative to provide short-term rehabilitation care for UCSF patients at SFCJL,” said Dr. Yukawa, who has more than 10 years of experience as a medical director of skilled nursing facilities in the private sector and at the Veterans Health Administration. “UCSF’s partnership with SFCJL dates back to 1998, when clinical fellows gained invaluable experience in post-acute care, leadership and quality improvement.”

On October 1, SFCJL will welcome palliative care medical director Spencer Christensen, MD,  a UCSF-board certified palliative care physician in the Division of Palliative Medicine, who will be responsible for developing and implementing an educational and clinical program that supports palliative care across SFCJL, in both short-term rehabilitation and long-term care units.

Drs. Yukawa and Christensen will work together with Drs. Lindsey Haddock, Kenneth Lam and Richard Parenteau of the UCSF Division of Geriatrics.