Homecoming Services Program

The Homecoming Services Program provides support to elderly patients who live in isolation and do not have a friend or family member to take care of them after they are discharged from the hospital. By providing elder patients with community-based case management, homecare assistance, medical escorts and groceries immediately following an emergency hospitalization, the program aims to reduce hospital re-admission and encourage independent living.
The Homecoming Services Program is a collaborative project between Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, The San Francisco Senior Center, Project Open Hand and Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. Services are free to low-income clients and based on an income sliding scale for others.

The program is supported through private donations, fee-for-service, and public-sector donations from organizations such as the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, Wells Fargo, the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services, and others.

The program’s mission is to serve San Francisco’s isolated seniors 60 and older in making the transition from hospital to home.

By 2006, over 300 individuals participated in Homecoming Services. St. Francis Memorial Hospital's Financial Impact Analysis revealed that hospital stay reductions averaged 1-2 days per patient, with an average savings of $2000 per day. Readmissions for the same condition were reduced by 50% and the total hospital savings (based on approximately 350 patients) was estimated to be at least $2 million.