Bronzeville Community Health Center to open in 2025 and Unnamed Candidate Recommended as New CEO for Cook County Health

Cook County Health Board & Committee Reports
August 23, 2024

Board Meeting Discussion and Action:
Chairman Taylor and Dr. Erik Mikaitis, Interim CEO, began the meeting with the announcement that anchored by CCH’S Provident Hospital the Bronzeville Community Health Center will offer family medicine, behavioral health, and rehabilitation services including physical, occupational and speech therapy.  The 26,000 square foot center is projected to have 80-85,000 visits in its first year and will include 44 exam rooms and a gym space for therapy services providing care for patients of all ages and stages of life.    The family medicine and behavioral health practices are moving from Provident Hospital’s Sengstacke Health Center into Bronzeville which offers a larger, more modern environment to better serve patients.  The move will also free up more clinical space within Provident to allow for the expansion of hospital-based services.  Patients will continue to be able to receive comprehensive primary and specialty outpatient care at Sengstake.
 
CEO Position: The Commissioners adjourned following the Public Testimony to a Closed Session.  Upon return, Chairman Taylor made a motion to entertain and approve, subject to the approval of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the appointment of Candidate “A” for the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Cook County Health and Hospital Systems pursuant to the compensation package discussed in closed session.  Motion to approve carried.  

Report from Interim CEO:   Dr. Mikaitis presented a high-level review of ARPA hire and spend. The current spend of ARPA funds is $137M with a remaining obligation of $97M which must be obligated by the end of 2024 with spend through 2026.  Next steps will be to determine sources to continue funding after ARPA funds are spent i.e. post 2026.  Initiatives include Food as Medicine at Belmont-Cragin and an opportunity at Provident Hospital.  Housing for Health which has received a boost to its effectiveness with ARPA funds. This was followed by updates on all the various programs which have received ARPA funding.  
Dr. Hasbrook was requested to in the future provide information about the overlap between Public Health outreach and the programs and to report on the collective impact of the investment in dollars and resources of the various programs. A report on Branding followed with a presentation of the new tagline – “Accountable, Exceptional for All.”  Updates have been made to web sites and staff will have access to new materials for use with patients after launch in September.   
 
Finance Committee:  Director Reiter briefly outlined the three Finance Committee meetings and public hearings in which the FY2025 preliminary budget was presented in detail and the August 15 Finance Committee Meeting where the preliminary budget was approved and requested a motion to approve without another presentation by Pam Cassara.  The CCH approved budget for 2025 is projected at $5.1B for both income and expenses.     Motion presented and approved.   This projected budget will require the  approval of the Cook County Board of Commissions in October.

Audit and Compliance Committee:  Director Harrington reviewed the minutes of the August 2, 2024, meeting indicating that Nicole Emerald, Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer reviewed 1st and 2nd Quarters including system compliance program and Cook County Medicaid Health Plan Compliance Program as well as recovery and the privacy update.  Motion made to approve and carried.  The next meeting will be on Friday, October 18 at 9:00 a.m.

Human Resources:  Reported metrics on vacancies, separations and status of hiring efforts.  1,080 vacancies reported as of the end of July.

Public Speaker Testimony:  There were four in-person, and one written testimonies provided.  The four speakers providing testimony were Dr. Ngozi Ezike, President and CEO of Sinai Chicago Hospital; Lena Hatchett, PhD, Co-founder and Executive Lead for Proviso Partners for Health (PP4H); Jackie Burgess Bishop, CEO National Kidney Foundation of Illinois; and Esther Cook, CEO Alevio FQHC serving Hispanic populations.  All four spoke in strong support of the preliminary Cook County Health and County Care budget for the coming fiscal year.  Each speaker provided an example of how their partnership with Cook County Health has had a positive impact on the goals and objectives of their organizations and a positive impact on the people they serve. 

Observer: Peg Moster

Quality and Patient Safety Committee: 
August 15
The Stroger Hospital and Ambulatory Clinics Joint Commission Triennial Accreditation and Primary Care Medical Home Certification survey was successfully completed in June 2024:

• The overall compliance was 97% for all standards and elements of performance. 
• Corrective actions were established for the findings identified and evidence of compliance will be submitted to the Joint Commission this month.
• Departments will report compliance data at the Hospital Quality and Patient Safety Committee meetings monthly August 2024 – December 2024, then quarterly thereafter thru 2025.
• A compliance dashboard has been developed for reporting and to track ongoing compliance.

Observer - Lisa Slankard

Managed Care Committee: 
August 2 
Metrics: 426,239 total members [well above budget projections].   32,928 ACHN Members [7.7%].  It continues to be the leading Managed Medicare Plan in CC with a 34.2%.  BC/SH is next with 27.2% market share. The CountyCare staff received kudos for its 88.9 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, 2023, Immigrant Medicaid members residing in CC have been auto-assigned to CountyCare except for those with a family member in another plan.  Through April of 2024, a total of 35,000 HBI immigrants have come into the plan.  
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.
Other Successes, Goals, Strategies, and Metrics:

• Won three National Association of counties awards for Addressing food insecurity [Best in Category], engaging members during redetermination, and improving member demographics. It also won an Aster Award for healthcare marketing, advertising, and communications.
• HEDIS scores improved in all but one category [follow up after ED visit for mental illness in 7 days  dropped 3%]. Opportunities for improvement for 2024-25 include behavioral health, living with illness and chronic disease, and maternal and child health.
• CCH’s Illinois Healthcare Transformation 1115 Waiver [promotes the objectives of the children’s CHIP program] was approved as of 7-2-24 and ending 6-30-29.  However, within the request, 3 specific waivers were not approved, a leadership grant program, the redirection of DSH funding to create a pool of funding for strategies and intervention in underserved communities, and training community health workers.
• Food care strategies started in 2023 include emergency meals, general nutrition programs, and medically tailored food. A Total of 7,800 members have been engaged as of the August 2, 2024 report.
• A new non-emergency medical transportation vendor [ModivCare] will start on August 1. ModivCare maintains a network of providers providing multiple levels of transportation services, including public.
• In 2024, CCH and County-Care entered into a new value-based payment arrangement with the State including pay-for-performance incentives tied to key quality outcomes.

​Observer - Diane Edmundson