Cook County Health Approves Preliminary 2020 Strategic Plan

 Cook County Health (CCH) Board of Directors Meeting - July 26, 2019          

Board Decisions:
The board unanimously approved the preliminary 2020 strategic plan, which will be available for public input later this summer and presented to the Cook County Board in September. 
The plan calls for:

• Increased surgeries, emergency visits, primary care, specialty care, and deliveries;
• 5% cost savings; and
• Sustaining CountyCare membership,

Challenges to the system include:

• Salary increases, 
• Increased cost of equipment and supplies;
• Revenue loss in CountyCare;
• Consolidation of hospitals
• A $52m pension requirement. 

CEO Dr. Jay Shannon pointed out that CCH needs to attract and retain paying patients  When CCH loses CountyCare patients, there is a 53% chance they will present for charity care, which consumes 25% of CCH revenue.

Committee Reports.

• Human Resources: 7,265 total positions, 1,151 vacancies, 830 positions in process, 364 external positions filled. Hiring for coders and billers difficult; not enough qualified candidates.  
• Managed Care: CountyCare membership 316,730 as of May 2019, 31.6% of market share. Home visits to high risk patients to encourage them to use CountyCare. Commissioner Sidney expressed concern that patients were being “auto-assigned” to health care plans without patient input.
• Quality and Patient Safety: CCH has a 16% readmission rate (near national average), attributed to hypertension and kidney disease; 8 falls with injury per month average; no hospital acquired conditions in last 3 months, but some infections.  74% willing to recommend Provident, 69% to recommend Stroger.
• Finance: Budget 23%  below target due to increased (1) charity care, (2) clinical activity and (3) pharmacy costs.  “We need to be better compensated for care to the uninsured,” CEO Shannon commented.  Finance Chair  Robert Reiter pointed out that CCH provides half of the charity care countywide; other hospitals are providing less.  Commissioner Mike Koetting emphasized the “centrality of making sure we are the provider of choice; otherwise the percentage of charity care will continue to grow.”  45% of CCH patients are now uninsured. 51% of patients identify as African American; 32% identify as Latino.

CCH Board Chair Hill Hammock announced that the Deloitte accounting firm will examine CCH’s financial books and accounting principles, with a response from CCH by the end of August.

Observed by:   Linda Christianson                                      Meeting Length: 3 hours