Search

Hospital PricingAs of January 1, 2021, CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) requires that hospitals post a list of their standard charges and a display of select shoppable services online.The Joyce Eisenberg Keefer Medical Center Auerbach Geriatric Psychiatric Unit (JEKMC AGPU), located at Los Angeles Jewish Health, is committed to sharing and helping consumers better understand specific health care costs.The standard charge file includes both the standard (gross) charge, the negotiated rate for contracted payers, the cash pay rate—for consumers without insurance coverage, and the minimum and maximum negotiated rates across payers.JEKMC-AGPU Standard ChargesThe shoppable services display includes CMS-identified select items and services. In total, CMS requires hospitals to display a total of 300 shoppable services. However, given JEKMC-AGPU’s niche services and care delivery model, the number of shoppable services is limited.JEKMC-AGPU Shoppable ServicesThe standard charge list is strictly related to the charge for a service. It does not include fees for Professional Services (ex. Psychiatrists, Psychologists, other Professional Providers). Hospitals are typically paid based on contracted rates for the services they provide, so the charge may not reflect the amount paid by your insurance or the amount due from you. Consumer coverage, co-payments and deductibles are specific to an insurance plan.The information contained in this file is currently uploaded annually. Charge information is subject to periodic changes and the file will be updated as soon as practically possible to reflect such changes.The file contains both the charge amount, the charge code, and the charge description of the item or service as reflected in the hospital’s chargemaster.For more information on CMS’ hospital price transparency requirements, visit the CMS website.Financial Assistance and Debt Collection PoliciesThe purpose of the policy is to provide patients with information on the Financial Assistance (Charity Care) available at Joyce Eisenberg Keefer Medical Center/Auerbach Geriatric Psychiatry Unit (“AGPU” or “Hospital”) and to outline the process for determining eligibility for Financial Assistance.The policy can be found hereHelp Paying Your Bill- Financial Assistance and Surprise Billing Protections  As part of our mission at Los Angeles Jewish Health and The Joyce Eisenberg Keefer Medical Center (JEK) Auerbach Geriatric Psychiatry Unit (AGPU), we are dedicated to providing access to quality healthcare for the community and treating all patients with respect, dignity, and consideration. In accordance with state law, this includes providing financial assistance to eligible patients who cannot afford to pay for care. We offer our patients a variety of options to meet their financial needs, even if they do not qualify for assistance.  Help Paying your Bill-JEK AGPU has many options to assist you with payment of your hospital bill. Options may include: Medi-Cal & Government Program Eligibility: You may be eligible for a government-sponsored health benefit program. Please contact the AGPU Program Director (818) 758-5045 if you would like additional information about government programs or need assistance with applying for such programs. Covered California: You may be eligible for health care coverage under Covered California, which is California’s health benefit exchange under the Affordable Care Act. Contact the AGPU Program Director (818) 758-5045 for more detail and assistance to see if you quality for health care coverage through Covered California. Payment Plans: Patient account balances are due upon receipt.   Patients may be eligible to make payment arrangements for their hospital bill.  The payment plan is negotiated between the Hospital and the patient, and a financial agreement must be signed before AGPU can accept payment arrangements that allow patients to pay their hospital bills over time. For questions, please call 818-758-5045. Discount Program and Charity Care Assistance Information-Summary of Financial Assistance (Charity Care): The AGPU is committed to providing financial assistance to patients who have no third-party source of payment, such as an insurance company or government program, or insured patients with high medical cost as defined by CA HSC 127400(g) for any portion of their medical expenses and who have a family income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level. The following is a summary of the application process for patients who wish to seek financial assistance. How to Apply-You may apply for financial assistance using the application form that is available from the AGPU Program Director by calling 818-758-5045 or the Director of Social Services at 818-758-5038. It is also available on the AGPU website (www.lajh.org). During the application process, you will be asked to provide information regarding the number of people in your family, your monthly income, and other information that will assist the hospital with determining your eligibility for financial assistance. You may be asked to provide a pay stub or tax records to assist AGPU with verifying your income. After you submit the application, the hospital will review the information and notify you in writing regarding your eligibility.  If you have any questions during the application process, you may contact the AGPU Program Director at (818) 758-5045. If you disagree with the hospital’s decision, you may submit a dispute claim to the AGPU Program Director. Copies of this Financial Assistance Policy, the Plain Language Summary and Application, as well as government program applications are available in English and Spanish in person at the AGPU Program Director’s office as well as at www.lajh.org and available by mail.  We can also send you a copy of the Financial Assistance Policy free of charge if you contact our AGPU Program Director at 818-758-5045 or the Director of Social Services at 818-758-5038.  In addition you can download from our website www.lajh.org Hospital Bill Complaint Program-The Hospital Bill Compliant Program is a state program that reviews hospital decisions about whether you qualify for help paying your hospital bill. If you believe you were wrongly denied financial assistance, you may file a complaint with the State of California’s Hospital Bill Complaint Program. Go to hcai.ca.gov/affordability/hospital-fair-billing-program/hospital-bill-complaint-program/ for more information and to file a complaint. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 22, § 96051.11Note: Authority cited: Section 127010, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Section 127410, Health and Safety Code.Help Paying Your Bill-  There are free consumer advocacy organizations that will help you understand the billing and payment process. You may call the Health Consumer Alliance at 888-804-3536 or go to healthconsumer.org for more information.  Protections for surprise medical bills- All patients are afforded protections against surprise medical bills. Visit CMS.gov/nosurprises, or call the Help Desk at 1-800-985-3059 for more information. TTY users can call 1-800-985-3059. Access- This notice is also available in other languages, large print, braille, audio format. Please contact AGPU Program Director at 818-758-5045 or the Director of Social Services at 818-758-5038 for assistance.   JEK AGPU Financial Assistance PolicyJEKMC Debt Collection PolicyJEKMC AGPU Application for Financial Assistance Audio Transliteration for Deaf or Hard of HearingLegal Name: Los Angeles Jewish Home for The AgingEIN #: 95-3510024

Los Angeles Jewish Health is deeply committed to fostering an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This includes the procurement practices followed at our Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center. Our Supplier Diversity Program supports the engagement of small and diverse-owned businesses, including those owned by minorities, women, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, and persons with disabilities. By building relationships with a broad range of suppliers, we strengthen our supply chain, promote equitable economic growth, and reflect our ongoing commitment to advancing health and well-being in the communities we serve.Our organization seeks to create meaningful partnerships with businesses that reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. In alignment with California’s Hospital Supplier Diversity Program (Health and Safety Code § 1339.85 et seq.), we are requesting that your business voluntarily provide information about its ownership and certification status. Please take a few moments to complete and return this questionnaire. Your participation is entirely voluntary and will not affect your current or future status as a vendor with our organization. The information will be used for internal tracking, mandatory state reporting to HCAI, and planning efforts related to diversity in our supply chain. Return the questionaire to: Robin Ray, Corporate [email protected] your business is interested in becoming a certified Diverse Business Enterprise, you can explore certification through the following websites.https://sch.thesupplierclearinghouse.comhttps://nvbdc.org/benefits-of-certification/https://certify.sba.gov/ https://uspaacc.com/certification/pan-asian-american-small-businesseshttps://www.nmsdc.org,https://www.wbenc.org.https://www.nglcc.org,https://vetbiz.va.gov,https://disabilityin.org/what-we-do/supplier-diversity/We thank you in advance for your participation and for your partnership with Los Angeles Jewish Health.  Hospital Supplier Diversity Vendor Letter and Questionnaire

To borrow from Adam Sandler, "Chanukah is the Festival of Lights. Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights". From those words of wisdom, we get the questions to address. What is this Festival of Lights? Why eight nights? In addition, while sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) and latkes (potato pancakes) are awesomely delicious, why are they associated with Chanukah? In the larger universe of Jewish holidays, Chanukah is known to be a minor observance. It certainly is not a holiday or observance on the level of Passover or Sukkot, let alone Rosh Hashanah. Even as we know Chanukah is a minor festival, Chanukah is beloved and its existence is widely known, if not understood. Here in America, Chanukah gets extra exposure because of the proximity to the Christmas holiday. Christmas is always December 25 but Chanukah follows the Jewish-Lunar calendar and can occur as early as Thanksgiving or fall in the later part of December. In that range of dates, Chanukah falls during what is commonly called the Holiday Season and becomes incorporated into it. That takes us to a uniquely American ideal about the make-up of our nation. We inscribe on the coins of our currency E Pluribus Unum- or in the English "Out of many one". In America, we celebrate being united; additionally we treasure what makes each part of the American mosaic unique. As the majority of Americans observe one holiday, Americans of the Jewish faith observe Chanukah. At its core, Chanukah is the celebration of maintaining that uniqueness. In the days following the breakup of the empire of Alexander the Great, the dominant culture in the Mediterranean world was the Greek culture. It would have been easy and made their lives simpler for the Jews of those times to be swallowed by that Greek culture. Yet, they refused, they rebelled against assimilation and they elected to fight to maintain the faith and identity they inherited from their ancestors. At the conclusion of this struggle to remain unique in a larger culture, it was time to dedicate the great Temple in Jerusalem. Part of the dedication or Chanukah was lighting the menorah. On hand was only enough oil to last 1 day. It would take several days for more oil to be procured. Rabbinic legend is that the oil that should have lasted for 1 day actually lasted eight. For that reason, we light candles in ascending numbers each night, to remember this miracle of the oil lasting. In observing Chanukah, we celebrate our unique identity in a larger world. Jews chose to retain the faith of those who came before us and treasure that faith and uniqueness in a diverse world. Finally and very importantly, why the latkes and sufganiyot? They are both linked to the miracle of the oil, as they both are fried foods. When I was a student in Israel, I marveled at the wide variety of sufganiyot-doughnuts on sale in every store and bakery. Naturally, I had to sample a cross section. My favorite? The chocolate frosted-halvah filled doughnut was the winner. Latkes are potato pancakes of course. There are many different recipes for them. You can use potatoes, sweet potatoes or even zucchini. Among the many toppings can be applesauce, sugar or what I recommend, sour cream. All are wonderful, all tasty without a doubt. Nevertheless, what is valued is to pause, gather together to bless and light the candles, sing the traditional songs and celebrate the wonder and miracle of Jewish identity in our day and time.

Katherina "Katy" Schaffer knows what it means to face extraordinary odds. But she has also experienced, first-hand, the triumph of perseverance. Over the course of her 97 years, Katy has faced unimaginable challenges, including time spent in three Nazi concentration camps. Through them all, she has proven time and again she has the strength of spirit to carry on—and, above all else, that she is a true survivor. A resident of Los Angeles Jewish Health's Grancell Village for the past year, Katy's story starts in 1925, in pre-war Czechoslovakia. One of six siblings, at the age of 19 she traveled to a neighboring town to become an apprentice seamstress. As Europe fell under the cloud of Nazi threat, her parents sent word that she should return home. On her way back, at a train station in the company of her older sister, Katy was abducted by the Germans. So began an odyssey that would subject her to the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust and leave her at death's door. "When my mom was liberated, in 1945, she remembers airplanes dropping little bags of cheese and bread. Some people she knew in the camps, who were on the brink of starvation, ate so much that they died—their systems couldn't handle all that sustenance at once," says Katy's daughter, Erit Siegal. "Fortunately, she restrained herself, and she eventually made it to a hospital, where she recuperated for a long time." After she was liberated, Katy traveled to her native Czechoslovakia, only to find that, aside from two sisters and a brother, her entire family had perished in the Holocaust. She and her siblings eventually emigrated to Israel, where she met her husband Otto and gave birth to Erit. By then, one sister had moved again—this time, to Los Angeles—and Katy and Otto decided to join her. Katy and her family—which soon expanded to include a son, George—thrived in Southern California. Otto worked in the garment industry; Katy was a homemaker who cooked, sewed clothing, and provided a warm and loving environment for her children in the house they purchased in the San Fernando Valley in 1963. Despite the hardships she had endured, she found fulfillment and success. "I always tell people to learn from their parents and neighbors, to follow Jewish values, to help the poor, and to be a mensch," she says. Husband Otto passed away in 2011; Katy stayed in their home for another decade or so. Among the hobbies she took up during this period was volunteering for seven years at Los Angeles Jewish Health (LAJH), in the Arts and Crafts Room on the Eisenberg Village campus. "I've always felt that, wherever I can help, I help," she says. "Giving back to LAJH was a way for me to contribute." Katy came to Los Angeles Jewish Health as a resident via our short-term rehabilitation program after falling and fracturing her spine. While in rehab, the vascular disease she had in her leg progressed, ultimately resulting in the amputation of her leg. She moved into Los Angeles Jewish Home full-time just over 12 months ago. "Mom has always been incredibly active, and losing her leg was so traumatic," Erit recalls. "But it's kind of miraculous how she's adapted and adjusted. I think her experience in the war contributed to her being able to deal with her current situation—these survivors have something special in them that has enabled them to carry on." Today, Katy keeps her mind and body active and agile through knitting, doing word searches, and reading. Already during her brief tenure at LAJH, she has developed a reputation for her trademark resilience and positive energy. "Katy is an extraordinary person, and it's an honor to have her residing here at Los Angeles Jewish Health," says Rabbi Karen Bender, LAJH's chief mission officer. "She never allowed the atrocities she witnessed and experienced during the Shoah to interfere with her ability to embrace life, and it's no wonder all of the staff adore her. I personally love spending time with Katy. Her smile inspires me!" For her part, Katy is grateful for the blessings of family and the benefits of living at Los Angeles Jewish Health. "My children and four grandchildren keep me going," she says. "And I appreciate LAJH: I like the kosher food, I've made friends with my roommate, and Dr. Marco and my nurses are right here to help take care of me. I love it here—other places are just not the same!"

Chanukah is here! As you get those Menorahs out, let Rabbi Bender help you pick the right one for yourself or your older relatives.

A little #Dreidel 101 for your Chanukah fun! Whether learning for the first time or for a gentle reminder, let Rabbi Bender and her family teach you the most famous #Hanukkah game of them all. Great for seniors!

Need to bring out a bit of the #Hanukkah spirit? Rabbi Bender has plenty of good decor and outfit suggestions to bring the light of the season to anyone who sees them.

What Hanukkah would be complete without Sufganiyot aka Israeli donuts? Rabbi Bender, with an assist from her daughter Shoshie, has the perfect easy recipe for you to make with your loved ones.

Rabbi Karen Bender and family go through the annual Hanukkah debate: are latkes better with sour cream or applesauce?

Latkes are easier to make than you might think. Let Rabbi Bender and her family guide you through how to make Latkes, as well as share information about the Hanukkah treat.