League of Women Voters of Cook County
  • Home
  • About
    • LWVCC Positions
    • LWVCC Interest Groups >
      • Budget & Structure
      • Criminal Justice
      • Cook County Health
      • Forest Preserve Interest Group
    • Archived Newsletters
    • LWVCC Action and Testimony
    • LWVCC Activities
  • Observer Reports
    • Cook County Board Observer Reports
    • MWRD Board Observer Reports
    • CCH Board Observer Reports
    • Forest Preserve Board Observer Reports
  • Voter Info
  • Cook County Gov. Contacts
    • Cook County Board
    • Forest Preserve Board
    • Cook County Elected Officials
    • MWRD Board
    • Cook County Health Board

Charity Care Is The Challenge in FY2020 Budget for Cook County Health

11/16/2019

0 Comments

 
Cook County Board of Commissioners- Finance Committee
Departmental Budget Hearing
Oct 29, 2019


Cook County Health (CCH)
  • CCH proposes an austere FY2020 balanced budget of $2.8 billion, of which approx $1.8 billion is related to County Care (CCH's Medicaid Managed Care plan).  
  • In Cook County FY2020 budget, the Cook County Tax Allocation given to CCH represents less than 5% of CCH's operating revenue. 
  • The CCH FY 2020 budget anticipates $590 million in uncompensated care (charity care, unpaid patient bills, insurance companies not reimbursing claims) of which $409 million will be for charity care.
  • The budget includes 6601 FTEs and no layoffs (750 vacant positions were taken out of the budget), expenses for expected increases for drugs, medical equipment, and for employees' wages/benefits. 
  • The Cook County Budget allocation of $83 million to cover CCH health services provided to Cook County Jail, the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and Public Health functions falls short of CCH's anticipated expenses. 
  • $513 million patient fee revenue is projected for health care services from insured individuals (not County Care members) through their Medicare or other commercial insurance. 
  • The FY2020 budget for Stroger Hospital is decreased by 8% and Provident Hospital budget increased by 5.4% due to planned increase in services
  • County Care  receives approx $1.8 billion payments for its members from Medicaid administrator.  Of this amount CCH anticipates earning $173 million for providing health care services to County Care's members.  Other healthcare providers outside of/not associated with Cook County Health system receive $1.5 billion from County Care for providing health care services to its members.  
  • Charity Care is the largest and most important/challenging  expense/issue in CCH's FY2020 Budget.  Charity care at CCH is anticipated to grow at 4% for a total of $409 million.  CCH in 2019 provides over 50% of charity care in Cook County.  DSH (Disproportionate Share) and BIPA (Benefits Improvement and Protection Act) are federal funds paid to CCH to offset charity care. In the FY2020 these payments are approximately $289 million.  In the current year, CCH will spend more than $377 million for charity care, a budget gap.  CCH spends $1 million/day for charity care and this means that in FY2020, CCH will run out of money before the end of the year to pay charity expenses. The ever increasing burden for CCH stems from more individuals being uninsured and underinsured.  Also another major reason for this charity burden on CCH is that other Cook County hospitals will treat uninsured patients for emergency conditions but discharge these patients with referral/instructions to seek follow-up care at CCH (these institutions decline to treat these patients for follow-up care).
  • Plans are in place to improve the growth of CCH health system and revenue with new/expanded services such as chronic ambulatory dialysis at Provident campus, expansion of surgical services at Provident and Stroger hospitals.  CCH anticipates continued growth in extramural funding which brought in more than $25 million over the past three years.  CCH FY2020 budget anticipates County Care membership of 326,000 (as of today membership slightly over 320,000).  CCH will continue to seek additional Federal, State, and Cook County money and continue improvements to revenue cycle capture of money (clinical documentation, billing, coding, collections).
  • The budget gap between DSH and BIPA federal funding and CCH's growing charity expense outlay is CCH's greatest  FY2020 Budget challenge.  CCH will always provide health care regardless of the ability of the patient to pay, but this budget challenge will force CCH to make necessary difficult choices in restricting/cutting back services/delay getting equipment.
Observed by: Michele Niccolai
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Individual authors are credited at the end of each post.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All
    Assessor
    Ballot Referendum
    Board Of Review
    CCHHS
    Chief Judge
    Contracts
    Cook County Board
    Cook County Budget
    Cook County Health (CCH)
    Cook County Sheriff
    County Clerk
    Covid 19
    Criminal Justice
    Departmental Budget Hearings
    Economic Development
    Election Administration
    Environmental Control
    Ethics Ordinance
    Gun Violence
    Healthcare
    Independent Inspector General
    Paid Sick Leave
    Pensions
    Performance Based Management
    Police Matters
    Public Defender
    Recorder Of Deeds
    Shakman
    Soda Tax
    State's Attorney Office
    Taxes
    Tax Incentives
    Technology
    Transportation Plan

    RSS Feed

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF COOK COUNTY
332 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 634
Chicago, IL 60604

312/939-5935 x 127
info@lwvcookcounty.org
Terms and Conditions of Use
© Copyright League of Women Voters of Cook County, Illinois. All rights reserved.
Membership Information
CONTACT US
  • Home
  • About
    • LWVCC Positions
    • LWVCC Interest Groups >
      • Budget & Structure
      • Criminal Justice
      • Cook County Health
      • Forest Preserve Interest Group
    • Archived Newsletters
    • LWVCC Action and Testimony
    • LWVCC Activities
  • Observer Reports
    • Cook County Board Observer Reports
    • MWRD Board Observer Reports
    • CCH Board Observer Reports
    • Forest Preserve Board Observer Reports
  • Voter Info
  • Cook County Gov. Contacts
    • Cook County Board
    • Forest Preserve Board
    • Cook County Elected Officials
    • MWRD Board
    • Cook County Health Board