Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board Presented with FY2019 Budget Framework

Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board Meeting - July 27, 2018 

The FY 2019 Budget Framework for the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) was presented at the July 20th CCHHS Finance Committee meeting and then presented to the CCHHS Board on the 27th by Dr. Shannon, CEO and Doug Ewell, Deputy CEO for Finance and Strategy. Dr. Shannon indicated that the FY 2019 Budget drivers are as follows:

• Improve the patient experience, reliability and safety culture
• Create value and offset costs with higher clinical volumes
• Sustain financial position
• Sustain and grow CountyCare membership and improve use of CCHHS services by CountryCare membership

Mr. Elwell then discussed the 2019 Revenue drivers:

• Modest increase in CountyCare membership
• Increased capacity for surgery, dialysis and outpatient health center access
• Billing and collection improvements
• Greater use of CCHHS services by CountyCare members
• Assumes level tax allocation from the County

And 2019 Expense drivers:

• Expanding care coordination to improve care and achieve savings
• Reducing environmental service contract expense, hiring personnel
• Establishing mental health services at the Temporary Juvenile Detention Center.
• Rising personnel costs
• Projected increase in uncompensated care based on trends

The FY2019 CCHHS Budget  will be presented to the CCHHS Board on August 24th for approval and then presented at a CCHHS Public Hearing on August 31st.

Other Data Presented to the Board:

• 331,548 CountyCare members as of June 1, of whom only 54,047 or 16% have a primary care provider with  CCHHS
• Overall system operating Revenue for the period ending May 2018 was 25% over budget. However, total operating expenses were 23% over budget leaving an increase in the operating loss of $18,360 over the projected loss.
• There continues to be improvement in reducing hiring times and the filling of nursing positions has improved.
• Surgical cases are up 5% and slightly above the FY2018 target
• System wide uninsured numbers, captured by visit have held at 42%.

To Watch For:
At their meeting on September 12th, the Cook County Board should make the decision on the new CCHHS Directors.

Observers - Jackie Buttafuoco and Bill Edmundson               Meeting Length: Two and a half hours