Zuckerberg San Francisco General staff honored; Health Commission approves hospital policies

The San Francisco Health Commission on a virtual meeting day recognized frontline and support teams at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) and approved a package of hospital policies after hearing the hospital's FY2021 annual report.

Dr. Susan Ehrlich, CEO of ZSFG, told commissioners the hospital served nearly 90,000 unique individuals last year and that ZSFG's revenues and expenditures are roughly $1,000,000,000 annually; she also said the hospital recorded about $50,000,000 in COVID-19 related expenditures for the year. "These teams are interdisciplinary, curious, creative and remarkably persistent," Ehrlich said while outlining the report's performance, research partnerships with UCSF and campus projects.

Commissioners opened the meeting with a series of staff recognitions. Commissioner Chao presented the first award to the med-surge COVID unit (referred to in the record as units "age 66 and 68") for sustained clinical care during repeated COVID surges; nurse manager Tanda Botka accepted on behalf of the team. Vice President Greene recognized the staff who supported ZSFG's staff and patient vaccination clinics; Alon Elan, who nominated a vaccination team, described cross-department and community partnerships that facilitated over 14,600 staff vaccinations and a later reconfiguration to serve patients.

The commission then considered three action items that had been reviewed by the ZSFG Joint Conference Committee (JCC). After motions and roll-call votes the commission approved:

- The ZSFG FY2021 Environment of Care annual report (motion moved by Commissioner Chao; roll call passed);
- Policy 8.09, the hospital plan for provision of patient care (motion moved and seconded; roll call passed);
- Policy 17.01, the Performance Improvement in Patient Safety Program (PIPSC) (motion and seconded; roll call passed).

Votes at a glance:
- Minutes from the Nov. 2, 2021 meeting: approved by roll call.
- Environment of Care annual report: approved by roll call.
- Policy 8.09 (hospital plan for provision of patient care): approved by roll call.
- Policy 17.01 (PIPSC): approved by roll call.

Commissioners praised the annual report for combining metrics, patient stories and partnership details with UCSF and the ZSFG Foundation. Ehrlich highlighted operational accomplishments, including improvements in quality and flow metrics, expansion of occupational health, and campus investments such as a resilience garden and ongoing building upgrades.

The commission closed the public portion of the meeting to consider credentialing matters in a short closed session and then adjourned.

Provenance: The recognitions and annual report presentation were introduced and discussed in the segments where Dr. Susan Ehrlich and multiple commissioners spoke (topic materials presented beginning at SEG 062 for recognitions and the FY2021 annual report presentation starting at SEG 517). The approvals and roll-call votes are recorded later in the public transcript (see Environment of Care item starting SEG 1071 and subsequent policy items).