Category: Cook County Health (CCH)

Commissioners Vote to Declare Maternal Morbidity and Mortality a Public Health Crisis

6/20/2025

Cook County Board Of Commissioners
Committee Meetings
June 10, 2025

Health and Hospital Committee
The Committee passed the resolution declaring maternal morbidity and mortality as a public health crisis. IL Senator Leticia Collins and Representative Camille Lilly gave supportive public testimony. (Item 25-2301)

For the quarterly report for the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) (Item 25-2513):

Denise Gilbert, Director of Nursing at CCDPH, reviewed public health nursing initiatives within the Department. Hearing and Vision screening had been on hiatus, but has been reactivated and provides screening and assistance in referral for follow up care. Data informs their work, and it is also available to the community.
CCDPH website contains the Community Health Atlas which provides comprehensive population, health behavior, disease, maternal child health, and injury data for residents of suburban Cook County, and CCDPH’s jurisdiction.
CCDPH nurses developed EveryMotherEveryChild.org website for every stage of pregnancy, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation with fact sheets.

For the CCDPH’s semi-annual Disparities Report (Item 25-2612):

There is a long, slow decline in vaccination coverage in suburban Cook County. Schools with vaccination rates that are lower than 91% are scattered throughout the County.
Action by CCDPH includes a focus where there is greatest need: schools with vaccination rates between 82-88% (lowest protection) AND high a high ranking on the Social Vulnerability Index. That Index quantifies the potential for a community to experience greater negative effects for external stresses on human health, such as disasters or outbreaks.
CCDPH is establishing vaccine clinics, patient education and targeted communication via media and community partnership.

League Observer: Susan Avila

Audit Committee
The Committee reviewed the Audit Report on the Housing and Resources for Justice Involved Individuals, which is an ARPA-funded pilot project. (Item 25-2747)

The Justice Advisory Council (JAC) is managing the program that helps recently released people find housing and pay the first three months’ rent. The program will also provide prorated support depending on the person’s income and effort for the rest of a one-year lease.
The original plan was to house 300 people but only 26 had been successfully served at the time of the audit. During the audit process it was noted that subrecipient agencies were not timely reporting metrics and payroll costs were not reported correctly. Both had been corrected by the time the audit was completed.
The JAC determined that it needed to revise the program and provide more assistance in obtaining the housing. The JAC has added relocation coordinators that walk the participants through the search and paperwork. The JAC also found other agencies that could refer people. Since last November, 56 people have been housed and the JAC is working with about 13 people a month.
Since the program has less participants than planned, its budget has been amended and some of the funds have been diverted to other ARPA programs. The JAC is investigating private grants to keep the program going beyond 2026.
Commissioner Gainer suggested they also work with the Land Bank that has connections with contractors that build rental property.

League Observer: Kathi Graffam

Finance Committee

There was just one item on the agenda: Commissioner Sean Morrison’s proposed ordinance amendment proposing to add language to the Class 2-12 real estate classification, Item 25-2835. Commissioner Morrison explained that there would be no vote on the item, but that this meeting was an opportunity to discuss the proposal. After obtaining more information and further discussion, the Board could then decide whether to make any changes to the requirements for the Classification or leave it as is. Accordingly, the item was deferred after discussion.
Comm. Morrison said that he understood the intent of the 2-12 classification was to give small business owners who live above their business a tax break by taxing the entire property at the residential rate of 10 percent of the assessed value. However, the current language of the ordinance for 2-12 classification does not require the owner to live at the property. In contrast, other properties under a different classification are split, with the portion that is commercial being taxed at 25% of the assessed value and the residential portion taxed at 10% of the assessed value.
Comm. Morrison’s proposal would add the requirement that the owner use the property as the principal place of residence, receive a homeowner’s exemption, and file a yearly declaration of eligibility for the 2-12 classification with the Assessor each year.
Comm. Morrison said that his staff found there were almost 14,000 properties classified as 2-12 currently and that the staff looked at about 6900 and found that about 50% had tax bills going to entities other than the owners of the property. He has estimated that an additional $171 M would be collected if the property was split between commercial and residential.
The Assessor’s Office was represented by the Chief of Staff, Scott Smith, and the Chief Legal Advisor. Mr. Smith said that about 1/5 of the current 2-12 properties do have homeowners’ exemptions. He said that typically these properties are assessed at $100,000 or less. There was concern about what additional workload the office might be expected to do if the 2-12 classification was changed. The office will provide more information in response to Comm. Morrison’s questions.
Comm. Trevor expressed concern that other renters in the building might not be able to continue to afford to live there if the property taxes increased for the entire property as a result of the property having to be split between residential and commercial. She said that there should be a transition plan in place should a change in the classification be made.

League Observer: Priscilla Mims

Workforce Housing and Community Development Committee

There was no discussion, but the Committee approved a proposed loan of $2.6 M from the HOME Investment Partnership Program to Carefree Development for the construction of Carefree Village, a 55-unit affordable rental housing for seniors located in Oak Forest.

League Observer: Susan Gegory

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Cook County Board April Committee Meetings

4/22/2025

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Cook County Board of Commissioners
Committee Meetings
April 8 and 9, 2025

Health & Hospitals Committee
April 8, 2025
Dr. Joshi, interim Chief Operating Officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health (“CCDPH”) presented the quarterly update on Covid-19 and other infectious diseases of concern for Suburban Cook County. Item 23-3815

COVID-19 & RSV: low activity with few emergency department visits.
Flu: moderate activity, but trending down.
Avian influenza: no human-to-human transmission has been detected yet; cases are primarily in agricultural workers with poultry and dairy cattle; 70 cases nationally/none in IL.
Measles, none in IL so far.
CCDPH nurses administering MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine at residences and work with medical providers on measles testing; vaccinations will be initiated as a Public Health measles response when cases arise.
Fall flu vaccines: the FDA external advisory committee meeting which normally determines the flu vaccine formula each year was cancelled; the manufacturers of the flu vaccine are moving forward based on the World Health Organization recommendation.
The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (“ACIP”) was postponed to mid-April. The ACIP determines who should get vaccines, which is important for medical insurance coverage.

Numerous questions, primarily on measles and vaccination safety, from Chair Lowry, and Commissioners Kevin Morrison, Aguilar, Moore, Trevor, Miller, Sean Morrison, and Daley.

How do we track immigrants, especially new ones, and the general population for vaccination status? Dr. Joshi said checking school records for required vaccinations and whether there is vaccination exemption for religious or medical reasons.
Do health providers know how to recognize measles, and can there be transmission by asymptomatic individuals? Dr Joshi responded that they were working on communications to health providers for recognition and treatment of measles cases which is a reportable disease to Public Health.
There is messaging on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines to counter concerns patients may have on largely unproven adverse vaccine effects.

Observer: Susan Kern

Asset Management Committee
April 9, 2025
All items were approved. Most discussed by the Commissioner was the proposal to hire firms to be the Construction Manager at Risk for maintaining Stroger Hospital.

The Bureau of Asset Management and the Chief Procurement Officer proposed awarding a Construction Manager at Risk (“CmaR”) contract to Power/Ujamaa 7 LLC. for ongoing upgrades and maintenance of the Stroger Hospital with a budget of $373,000,000.00. Stroger is 22 years old and they want to maintain the systems and structure so it will have a life span of 50-70 years. This will require major ongoing projects such as roof replacement, LED lighting, elevator modifications, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing updates for both the Hospital and its Powerhouse.
The CMaR process is different in that design and construction are developed together and the one general contractor oversees all the needed projects and sources the subcontractors. Asset Management Staff will weigh in on the choice of the subcontractors, which will all have to meet the standard Cook County procurement requirements concerning diversity and residence. Asset Management staff proposed reporting back to the Commissioners once a year on project and cost status.
There were several questions from the Commissioners who were concerned about the main contractor sourcing the subcontractors, the Commissioners not approving those separate contracts, and the length of time between reports. Commissioners Gainer and Sean Morrison were particularly concerned that the Board would not have closer oversight on the subcontractors. Earl Bitoy of the Bureau of Administration, Ms. Granata, Earl Maning of Asset Management, and staff from the Chief Procurement Office, and the Health and Hospital Procurement Office assured the Commissioners that this process would be the most efficient and cost effective with over-run guarantees. This was approved by the Health and Hospital Board Finance Committee on April 3.
This Item 25-0002 was approved with Commissioner Anaya voting present and Commissioner Sean Morrison voting no.

The Committee also approved the following items:

Two items concerning the Oak Forest Campus, site of the now closed Oak Forest Hospital: (1) an amendment to a contract with EGM Architects to assess the infrastructure integrity of the existing buildings for possible preservation, reuse, and TIF potential; and (2) an amendment to the contract with GSG Consultants to determine if some of the buildings could be used for private redevelopment. Commissioner Morrison asked why this was being done since the buildings at Oak Forest are outdated and all the utilities, such as the underground heating system, cannot be repaired. Only one Cook County office of Emergency Management and Regional Security is in the complex. Elizabeth Granata, Chief of the Bureau of Asset Mgt., said that now they were working on preservation of some of the buildings with architectural and historical significance instead of demolition of all of them. The plan is to redevelop them for other uses than Cook County offices. Items 25-011 and 25-0012
Cook County Health will pay the lease for another tenant in the Austin Wellness Center, Hektoen Institute which provides HIV testing. The cost for 5 years will be $194,000 dollars. This will ensure the institute can survive if their federal funding changes. Item 25-1588
A project to determine best practices for evaluating healthy buildings in Cook County government facilities with the University of Illinois and Champaign County. This project was initiated by the late Commissioner Deere. Item 25-1599.

Observer: Kathi Graffam

Rules and Administration Committee
April 9, 2025
The Committee reviewed and approved the proposed changes to the “Public Facing Rules and Regulations” pertaining to the Procedural Rules issued by the Department of Human Rights and Ethics for the Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance. Departments charged with implementing County ordinance draft rules which are then sent to Cook County Board for approval. Item 25-1343

The changes were to clarify the effective dates relating to employees of school districts and park districts. The Cook County ordinance is consistent with the State law, except that the County does not exempt school and park district personnel from the requirement that paid leave be offered. The lack of this exemption has been a point of controversy among the Commissioners in the past.
Commissioner Britton, whose district is in the north suburbs, asked how many of the suburbs with home rule have opted out of the County ordinance. Jennifer King, the Executive Director, did not know, but Commissioner Britton said that those in his district have all opted out. He has one community which does not have home rule status, so it cannot opt out.
Commissioner Sean Morrison, whose district is also in Suburban Cook echoed Comm. Britton’s concerns.
Both Commissioners, along with all other members of the Committee, voted to approve the rules changes, citing that, given the ordinance, the changes were the best that could be done. They also thanked Executive Director King for all her time and effort.

Observer: Priscilla Mims

Finance Committee
April 9, 2025

The Comptroller reported on the 12 months of FY 2024 ending Nov. 30, 2024: General Fund was favorable as to budget by $223.3 M, with revenues greater than budget by 4.8% and expenses less than budgeted by 5.2%. Also reported for the same period for the Health Fund, on a cash basis, favorable of $203.5 M, with revenues greater than budget by 0.2% and expenses less than budget by 3.9%. Item 25-2208.
The Comptroller also reported on the 3 months of FY 2025 ending Feb. 28, 2025: General Fund –favorable by $2.8 M; and Health Fund on a cash basis– unfavorable by $108 M. Item 25-2209. The Comptroller pointed out that a more accurate picture of the Health Fund is on an accrual basis, as contained in the next report from Cook County Health (“CCH”). Illinois currently owes $108.1 M to the County.
For the CCH monthly report, there are 2 knowns that will have a negative impact as compared to budget: the ending of the program for Medicaid reimbursement for adult immigrants from 42 to 64 years; and the Federal Government reducing funds for the Department of Public Health by $2 M. Item 25-1168.

Observer: Priscilla Mims

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Committees of the Cook County Board Hear Reports and Take Action at Meetings on March 11 and 12

3/22/2025

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Health and Hospital Committee Meeting
March 11, 2025
Following are some of the details from the presentations and reports presented to the Committee:

Cook County Public Health (CCDPH) 1st Quarter 2024-25 Report (Item 25-1251): Dr. Kiran Joshi, Interim COO focused on program and policy initiatives serving youth in suburban Cook County:

Early Childhood - A map highlighted the stark differences in resources available across Cook County: e.g., access to good schools, health resources, and safe environments, highlighting infant mortality, asthma rates, and fresh food consumption.
K-12 – In 2022 28.5% of students had used electronic vapor products, a decrease since 2020. More females than males have used these products (33% to 24%), and about 41% of LGBTQ+ students reported use. Chlamydia rates were highest among 15-24 year olds and is a major public health concern. About 34% of students in suburban CC reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Female rates were higher than male. National data shows a 78% increase in suicide rates among Black youth ages 10-19 between 2000-2020. In suburban CC, the rates are lower; but gender disparities by sex show that high-school females are almost 2.5 times as likely as males to have attempted suicide.
Young Adults – The CCDPH provides technical assistance for community partners in two-year institutions and community-based organizations, public education, media campaigns, and data and reports. It also conducts sexually transmitted and HIV surveillance and publishes reports to help community organizations plan services and advocate for fair polices. Coming soon, will be an at-home STI test kit to support easy, confidential testing. CCDPH also distributes free condoms via its website

Office of the Chief Judge – Semi-annual behavioral health reports thru November 30, 2024 (item 25-1340):
Behavioral health programs include:

Adult Problem-Solving Courts for drug, mental health, and veterans
Adult Probation and Social Services Departments for domestic violence and intervention
Adult Probation for substance use disorder treatment
Juvenile Probation counseling, and
Juvenile Probation multi-systemic therapy services
Goal of the problem-solving courts is to promote community safety and reduce recidivism. It is a non-adversarial, voluntary alternative to incarceration.
Mission of the juvenile probation work is to keep all court involved children in the community, where they can receive equitable, focused, individualized intervention and opportunities to prevent further system involvement.

Cook County Public Defender’s Office – Semi-annual behavioral health report thru November 30, 2024 (Item 25-1338):

This office is not a treatment provider but rather it provides consultation, assessment, and case management. It works collaboratively by providing direct linkage to service providers and other social services to support clients functioning within the community and to reduce recidivism.
Future initiatives include: Community defense centers and internship program development.

Observer: Diane Edmundson

Finance Committee Meeting
March 12, 2025

The Comptroller reported on the 2 months of FY 2025 ending Jan. 31, 2025: General Fund --favorable $11.6 M for General Fund and Health Fund on a cash basis– unfavorable $72 M. Item 25-1630. The Comptroller pointed out that a more accurate picture of the Health Fund is on an accrual basis, as contained in the next report from Cook County Health (“CCH”). Illinois currently owes $109.3 M to the County.
The CCH report for the 2 months ended Jan. 31, 2025 on an accrual basis shows an unfavorable $34.1 M. Item 25-1167.
Chair Daley asked about the impact on CCH with the Governor’s proposal to halt Illinois’ funding for Medicaid for adult immigrants from 42 to 64 years. The funding for this in 2024 equaled $111 M. However, assuming this halt goes forward, it would not take place until mid-year. The CCH Chief Financial Officer told the Commissioners that CCH expects to be able to close the gap for this year. Chair Daley asked that in the future the verbal reports at the meetings highlight this situation.

Observer: Priscilla Mims

Legislation & Intergovernmental Relations Committee Meeting
March 11,2025
The committee approved several amendments to the Ethics Ordinance. (Agenda Item 25-1324)

One amendment changed the definition of “doing business” with the County from $10,000 to $25,000.
Two were concerned with one-year restrictions for former county personnel to accept employment with or compensation from an entity if the employee had been instrumental in awarding a contract for $25,000 or more (up from $10,000) to that entity, or for that former employee to enter into a contract with the County for services valued at $25,000 or more (up from $10,000).
Another maintained the $10,000 amount for “doing business” in the section on limitations of contributions to candidates and elected officials.

Comm. Degnan asked about the genesis of the monetary amount for post-employment restrictions. Jennifer King, Executive Director of the Cook County Department of Human rights and Ethics, responded that the changes were to keep the Ethics Code in alignment with the recent changes to the Procurement Code.
Observer - Cynthia Schilsky

Transportation Committee Meeting
March 11, 2025
All items on the agenda were approved, including:

Several items for providing preliminary engineering services with different locations in the County. Some funding came from ARPA funds the County has received from the federal government. (Includes Item 25-0785),
Appropriating funds for the Amtrak Chicago Hub Improvement Program in Chicago (25-0755).
An agreement between Cook County Dept of Transportation and Highways and Illinois Medical District Commission, with the latter being the lead for preliminary and design engineering to enhance mobility along Harrison Street, identified as needing critical improvements to enhance mobility, accessibility and safety. (25-0342).
An agreement between the County and City of Evanston to retrofit Divvy stations to improve access to public transportation and commercial districts. It will provide a 40% increase.

Observer: Carolyn Cosentino

Technology & Innovation Committee Meeting
March 11, 2025

Without discussion, the Committee voted to receive and file the Chief Information Security Officer Report for Fiscal Year 2024 which provided an update on the different County areas adoption of the information Security Framework and a summary of advice and recommendations for each area.
This report was not posted on Legistar. The Observer inquired why not and was told by the office of Vice Chair Sean Morrison that the report contained confidential information and was exempt from the posting requirements.

Observer: Victoria Cerinich

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Consent Agenda Rules Changed by Cook County Board

2/7/2025

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Cook County Board of Commissioners
Committee Meetings
February 5, 2025
Rules and Administration Committee
The Committee approved 2 amendments to their rules concerning the Consent Agenda aspect of their meetings.

The first amendment requires that the Consent Agenda be limited to 60 minutes and will be held prior to the regular board meeting. It will be separately noticed. (Agenda Item 25-0984)
The second amendment established the dates and times for the meetings to be held at 9am the same day as the regular board meeting. (Agenda Item 25-0986)

Commissioner comments:

Comm. Britton stated this would be a more efficient use of their time and while it is important to recognize people/groups perhaps doing it in district should be more frequently considered.
Comm. Miller wanted to know what other bodies restricted their Consent Agenda and Comm. Scott stated that the Chicago Board limits oral recognition to 3 at their meetings and has done so for several years.
Comm. Miller and Degnan were concerned about the process - how ordinances would be prioritized and who decides that.
Comm. Stamps and Anaya wanted to know how the picture taking with the President would be incorporated.
Comm. Britton stated that a quorum would be necessary so it behooves everyone to be there at 9am for the meetings. Comm. Britton also said that the issues raised by the commissioners were the issues that needed to be considered and discussed as they institute this change in the Consent Agenda procedure.

Finance Committee

Analysis of Revenues and Expenses for the County were presented by the Comptroller and representatives from Cook County Health (CCH). Both revenue and expense variances were reported as negative with timing issues being the cause.
Comm. Gainer had questions regarding a report from CCH about salaries of contracted persons vs employees. She stated the report was thorough and transparent and wanted more clarity on the long term plans for addressing the discrepancies - whether training of employees would address filling the positions or the positions were too specialized and would continue to be contracted out.
Comm. Sean Morrison’s questioned whether CCH reports were based on an accrual basis or cash basis. CCH said they do their finances on an accrual basis but convert to a cash basis for reporting as part of the Cook County Budget.
The Market Survey Report on Elected Official Compensation (Agenda Item 25-0739) was received and filed without comment.

Transportation Committee
Department of Transportation and Highways Superintendent Jennifer (Sis) Killen provided a presentation on the department’s ADA Transition Plan. Highlights of her presentation:

The plan fulfills a Federal requirement relating to ADA ensuring that all the facilities and services in the public right-of-way along the roadways maintained by the County are compliant with the ADA standards.
The report focused on curb ramps, crosswalks and pedestrian signals and indicated the plan is to improve all assets over the next 25 years.
An ADA Coordinator has been named (Andrew Warner) to answer questions from the public and to oversee communication about the goals and progress of the plan.
Commissioner concerns were about ongoing trainings for personnel and how it is determined who is responsible for payment for any construction or repairs. Response was the Federal government does do training. Installation is done by the entity responsible for maintaining the right-of-way which can be the County, the City or a municipality or township. All repairs must be made to the current standards.

Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee
The Committee had a presentation of the annual report for the Board of Ethics for Fiscal Year 2024 (Agenda Item 25-0829).
Highlights of presentation:

Ethics Board is supposed to have 5 members - have 3 recently appointed members and 2 vacancies.
Office has 12 staff and 1 dedicated Ethics Investigator.
Now have a searchable data base for Campaign Contributions as well as an online form to file disclosures and requests.
Ethics investigations appear to focus on gifts and conflicts of interest.
Comm. Anaya asked about some of the numbers presented but there was no further discussion of the report.

Technology and Innovations Committee
The committee heard presentations on the Technology Strategic Plan Report (Agenda Item 25-0262) from the Bureau of Technology, and the offices of the Board of Review, the Assessor, the Treasurer, the Sheriff, the County Clerk, The Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Chief Judge, and the State’s Attorney.
Highlights from the reports:

The Bureau of Technology has a dual role of providing IT support to the President’s office as well as maintaining IT throughout County government offices.
Retirement of the Main Frame is projected to be April of 2025. There are still 2 applications that utilize the Main Frame - Jury Administration under the Chief Judge and some parts of the Property Tax system - but all seem to have committed to getting off by April of 2025.
Each office outlined their projects and goals for the next year and many are developing plans for incorporating AI into their work.
Almost all offices indicated a need for upgraded equipment and software - some thanking the commissioners for providing funds in their budgets to do this and others indicating they would need funds in the future.
The Board of Review (BOR) and the Assessor seemed to indicate that they both will now have a new system IasWorld that will allow them to share data although the BOR did say that their public facing portal remains as a different system.
Commissioner questions and comments centered on keeping to established timelines for implementing systems, holding vendors accountable to ensure that systems can be up and running by deadlines, and requesting that offices work together on implementing systems that need to communicate with each other.

Observer - Cynthia Schilsky

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Cook County Department of Public Health Reports to Cook County Board

1/26/2025

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Cook County Board Of Commissioners
Health & Hospitals Committee Meeting
January 14, 2025

Dr. Kirin Joshi, newly appointment Interim Chief Operating Officer for the CC Public Health Department, received a very warm welcome. He started with a presentation highlighting:

Covid activity low. Flu and RSV activity high. ICU admissions are highest for Flu. Covid 19 admissions continue, primarily in adults over 65.
Wastewater detections for RSV and Flu are increasing. Same for Covid-19 but less dramatically.
Fall 2024 study of patients at VA hospital examined almost 45,000 COVID -19 infections, and analyzed if the case received the fall 2024 vaccine. It found that the vaccine reduced hospitalizations by 65%, Emergency room and urgent care visits by 57%, and outpatient visits by 56%.
Cook County Health is rotating vaccination clinic hours at its 13 locations. Vaccinations are for Covid and Flu but not RSV. Locations and hours are promoted on its website.
M-Pox infections in Suburban Cook County. There have been no new infections for 3 months and residents continue to be vaccinated. As of January, there were 155 total cases, 17 hospitalizations, I death, and 3,889 residents vaccinated. In Chicago, 1,332 new cases, 83 hospitalizations, and 4 deaths.
H-5 Avian Influenza A (Bird Flu). First human death reported in January 25. The person had underlying medical conditions and contact with sick/dead wild birds. 67 cases confirmed in humans in the US since March 2024 with no human-to-human transmission. Risk continues to be low. Recommendation is to clean shoes, tools, equipment; a bird feeder is OK.
Cervical Cancer Mortality Rates. Cancer is not a communicable disease, but a primary cause of cervical cancer is the HPV virus via sexual contact. Vaccination against HPV is very effective.

Commissioner Questions:

Commissioner Quezada asked if Joshi had an update on the status of combining Covid 19 and the Flu vaccines. Answer: No Update. Also asked if an individual could tell the difference between Flu and the RSV virus symptoms. Answer: No.
Commissioner Stamps asked about new migrants getting screened and vaccination. Ans: Yes, at Belmont Cragin location on W. Fullerton.
Commissioner Anaya asked about the risk of consuming chicken with bird flu. Ans: If medically vulnerable, don’t consume meat or eggs.
Commissioner McCaskill wants to bring the clinics to the people [mobile clinics] and perhaps pair with the Park District. Ans: Good idea.
Chairperson Lowry announced that starting now, the County’s Birthday Health Screening for Breast and Prostate screening goes into effect. Call before your birthday month to schedule 312-864-4289. If no insurance, can still receive. Ages start at 40 for women for mammogram and 45 for men for prostate screening..

Observer: Diane Edmundson

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Data Collection Topic for Health and Hospitals Committee of Cook County Board

12/26/2024

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Cook County Board of Commissioners
Health and Hospitals Committee
December 17, 2024, 1:30pm

Dr. Hasbrouck, head of Cook County Public Health, did a presentation on Data Collection through a Health Equity lens.

He emphasized fast versus slow data collection and explained why it took so long for some data to appear (up to two years delay). The slow data is more trustworthy than the fast data. Data from 2022 is now available in 2024. National Data and Illinois Dept of Health data is likewise as slow as Cook County for many health statistics. The reason data takes so long to be accurate is that it needs to be “cleaned” and analyzed. He said there were many examples of the same individual going to multiple Cook County clinics with the same health concern, and CCH has to make sure they are not double or triple counting that same person. In many cases the clinics are reporting data by fax or paper rather than entering it via a spreadsheet.
Ways to access health data for CC, include the apps, Health Atlas and Shiny.
Com. Anaya wanted to make sure CC and Chicago were synced better than they are now. Dr. Hasbrouck said they meet on a regular basis and the data would be available on Health Atlas in the next 3 to six months.
Com. Daley wanted to know why COVID results were available so much faster (week to week) while current data takes years. Apparently COVID reporting was mandated while other data is not, by Illinois Dept of Health. Daley also asked how citizens can learn about health stats, and Dr. Hasbrouck says they help produce newsletters and work with the 31 communities within Cook County.
Com. Trevor asked about early warning signs like wastewater testing, and Hasbrouck said those and police data are gathered by their data contractor.
Com. Aguilar was also concerned about data timeliness.

Observer - Amy Little

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Commissioners Vote to Declare Maternal Morbidity and Mortality a Public Health Crisis

Cook County Board April Committee Meetings

Committees of the Cook County Board Hear Reports and Take Action at Meetings on March 11 and 12

Consent Agenda Rules Changed by Cook County Board

Cook County Department of Public Health Reports to Cook County Board

Data Collection Topic for Health and Hospitals Committee of Cook County Board

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