CCHHS 3-Year Strategic Plan Slated For Board Approval July 29

Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board Meeting - May 27, 2016

Strategic Plan Update:
Using input received through Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) staff interviews, Richard Sewell, Associate Dean for Community Health Practice at UIC’s School of Public Health, presented an external, internal, and situation analysis of the CCHHS system that identified features of the system’s current state,as well as assumptions, strengths, challenges, and opportunities concerning its future.  Sewell will release the preliminary strategic plan for board review on June 17, after which the board will have two meetings (including the scheduled board meeting on June 24) to select about five key priorities along with cost associated with each priority, then approve the draft plan before it is released for discussion and input at a series of public meetings.  Once the three-year plan receives final approval at the CCHHS board meeting on July 29, it will serve as the basis for the 2017 budget negotiations to follow, as well as a guide for the budgets of the two subsequent years.

Significant Topics Discussed:

• Board transitions.  Two board members, Lewis Collens and Dr. Erika Marsh, have resigned.  The terms of Mary Richardson Lowry, Carmen Velasquez, and Dorene Wiese will expire on June 30.  The nominating committee has met, and decisions on new members are anticipated in the next two months.
• Due to a “labor hold”, only 99 vacancies have been filled this year, leaving 635 open positions.  At this time last year 448 positions had been filled.  Time to hire: 102 days.
• CCHHS has 66 days of cash on hand, with 100 days as a goal.  Charles Jones, chief of Supply Chain Management, explained the five sole source contracts. Sodexo American was awarded a contract for $8,300,000 to provide food and nutrition services. 
• Terry Mason, Chief Operating Officer, Cook County Department of Public Health, illustrated in a power point presentation the effect of the 1934-68 practice of “redlining”, defining which neighborhoods could receive mortgages.  The practice resulted in still-extant concentrations of poverty, where residents have fewer educational opportunities, shorter life expectancies, and poorer health outcomes.   Mason proposed support for pro-equity policies to equalize access to healthcare; training for staff in bias awareness; and stratifying quality metrics by race, ethnicity and primary language.  He also proposed an aggressive lead abatement program in affected neighborhoods that conforms to the CDC recommendation.

Observer - Linda Christianson                               Meeting Length: 3 hours