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Cook County Health Board Meeting

4/29/2024

Cook County Health (CCH) Board of Directors Meeting
April 26, 2024
Attendance: Lyndon Taylor, Dennis Deer, Jay Bhatt, Robert Currie, Raul Garza, Joseph Harrington, Robert Reiter, Sam Robinson, and Tanya Sorrell. Absent: Mia Webster Cross

Public Testimony: There were 6 written statements submitted that focused on inequity in pay scale for RN’s working in public health and concern that recruiting and hiring of RN’s has not been effective and increased work loads of Health System staff nurses. One nurse spoke at the meeting focusing on these related concerns.
Finance Committee: Approved a new contract funded by the Cook County Equity Fund at $1,050,000 00 for CCDPH to advance policy and systems changes that support the work of the Suburban Cook County Worker Protection Program. Several other large contracts were approved to provide staffing services.

Action items:

Report from Interim Chief Executive Officer
- HR Report: Continue with 3 vendors working with Human Resources:
  - Slalom contract ends July 24 main focus was creating dashboards, modernized on line presences and access to real time recruitment and digital job description library.
    - Director asked question what was the cost total cost per hire over 2023. Interim Director will get back with the answer.
    - Discussion focused by Commissioners that the vacancy of 1700 is almost the same as FY22 and questions around what progress we have made in light of the dollars spent on consultants.
  - Deloitte contract ends April 24 (pending) helped modernize orientation plan for new employees, pipeline learning development and benchmarked jobs identified as not competitive. A transition plan has been created.
    - Discussion: HR now creating an RFP for building on work Deloitte started over this last year and half. Still don’t have HR staffing to follow up with work done by Deloitte.
  - Cross Country contract ends Jan 2025. Helped hire fair support, modernized recruiting and piloting accelerated hiring process.
Report on Robotic Surgery Launch: March 8th first robotic surgery done at Stroger and now total 48 cases completed.
The Audit and Compliance Committee minutes were approved which included the approval of the 2024 CountyCare Compliance Plan, the CountyCare Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Plan, and the Internal Audit Charter
Report from Cook County Department of Public Health on their tobacco prevention program and associated social media outreach. This program is funded through State dollars and has established a tobacco free coalition.

Observer: Susan Avila

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Cook County Health (CCH) Board Committee Meetings

4/29/2024

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CCH Quality and Patient Safety Committee
April 19, 2024

The Operation Excellence (OpEx) workgroups from Stroger, Provident and Ambulatory and Community Health Network (ACHN) provided updates. At Stroger, progress is being made on both lowering central line and catheter infections and decreasing Pulmonary Embolism and Deep Vein Thrombosis occurrences. Provident Hospital has also shown improvement in their goals. Sepsis occurrence has decreased and hand hygiene has improved.
The Stroger OpEx readmissions workgroup reported lowering the readmission rate for Congestive Heart Failure and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patients. Since these diagnoses are common, they were chosen to start this goal. The work will also be extended to less common but high readmission rate diagnoses.
The various factors identified as problematic were presented along with changes made to ameliorate them. The Ambulatory services (ACHN) have explored how to get patients’ blood pressure under control. It was found that there were inconsistencies in how blood pressure readings were determined. The standard for ACHN is to take the reading 3 times and average it. The procedure is to make sure the patient is comfortable and positioned properly. It was found that newer staff in the specialty clinics were not aware of the procedure and have now been trained. They also developed an algorithm that allows the nursing staff to change doses.
Both hospitals are due for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations (JCAHO) surveys later this year and are preparing. Mock surveys were done in January. There were very few comments from committee members and no closed session. Items to Watch for in the Future: JCAHO preparation.

Observer: Lisa Slankard

Managed Care Committee
April 19, 2024

Metrics - 442,652 total members [well above budget projections]. 13,849 ACHN Members [5.4%]
It continues to be the leading Managed Medicare Plan in CC with 32.3%. BC/SH is next with 27.6% market share. The CountyCare staff received kudos for its 80% Redetermination rate and its marketing and outreach efforts including billboards along the expressways.
CountyCare Access (health benefits for immigrant adults and seniors) - Effective January 1, 1013, Immigrant Medicaid members residing in CC have been auto-assigned to CountyCare except for those with a family member in another plan. To date, a total of 34,679 have been enrolled. 79% are in the adult category [vs seniors].
Healthy Choice Illinois RFP - The RFP by the State has been delayed for a year. The new expiration date for the State’s approval of CountyCare is December 2026, and a new contract would start January 1, 2027.
Quality and Equity Choice Campaign - Primary care engagement strategies will focus on adults 18-24. Equity efforts will start with smoking cessation via education and prevention. Other efforts center around the food care project, the flexible housing pool with a goal to provide permanent housing and wrap around services to 58 participants. Clinical Services will focus on accomplishments particularly with behavioral health participants.

Observer: Diane Edmundson

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Cook County Health Board Meeting

Cook County Health (CCH) Board Committee Meetings

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