June 5, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

Stroger Administration Marks Six Month Tenure  

First half year marked by challenges, achievements in effort to streamline and modernize County government.

Chicago, June 5, 2007 - Cook County Board President Todd Stroger marked the first half year of his administration on Monday – a period characterized by both great challenges and a series of important achievements. The list below bullets developments in a variety of sectors of Cook County government in the last six months, with a focus on arenas directly under the purview of the Office of the President.

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

Progress on professionalizing and de-politicizing county hiring practices.

• Supported supplemental Shakman relief order before taking office. At first board meeting, oversaw passage of order.
• Also at first board meeting, co-sponsored critical reforms to strengthen the County's Office of Inspector General and to support my commitment to zero tolerance of corruption in Cook County government.
  

Tackling the budget deficit.

• Instructed department heads and employees to meet a 17% across-the-board reduction in costs to tackle deficit.
• Mandated offices to focus on delivery of core services, particularly in health care and public safety.
  

Progress on professionalizing operations.

• Updates to Cook County Procurement Code, including a requirement that bidders comply with County Ethics Code -- including campaign disclosure requirements and provisions that strictly prohibit soliciting or receiving gifts.
• Procurement Code improvements to competitive bidding process, public oversight of contracts and proposals, and creation of framework for electronic procurement process to enhance access, transparency for vendors and public.
• Initiated Phase One of redesigned Purchasing Department web site, will launch Phase Two later this month.
• Modernization efforts are expected to assist small, minority, and women-owned businesses by providing opportunities for business development, vendor education, and support.

Increased operational efficiency.

• Transitioned Cook County into the deregulated electric energy market by procuring a new electric supplier for over 14 million square feet of County space, minimizing significantly increased costs due to higher energy rates.
• Industrial engineers working on efforts to privatize a number of support functions at the Juvenile Detention Center and Stroger Hospital, changes expected to cut costs by several million dollars per year.
• Forest Preserve District continues to hold down operating costs by exploring new opportunities to privatize services, an approach that has been wildly successful in golf courses.
• Turning around the long-troubled Juvenile Detention Center.
• Currently working with court monitors and policymakers to revamp the management structure, install new personnel practices, bring in new executive leadership, and -- through legislation in Springfield -- shift control of the agency to the Office of the Chief Judge.

Targeting community and economic development.

• Developing series of trade missions and collaborative programs to provide vital networking and relationship-building opportunities with little cost to the County, and long-term gains in trade, job development and economic vitality. April jumpstart of Sicilian collaboration and enterprise development part of this effort.
• Recently liberalized property tax incentives to promote reoccupation of abandoned commercial, industrial buildings.
• Launched effort to work more closely with municipalities throughout Cook County to promote redevelopment of tax delinquent properties. In April, hosted a special meeting for all municipalities interested in participating in the 2007 Tax Scavenger Sale through the County's No Cash Bid Program.
• Working to roll out new affordable housing program and new workforce housing program.
• Brought new leadership to POET, which is working to realign resources to focus more on training, to increase number of job placements, and increase average wage at the time of placement.

Progress in environmental responsibility.

• In late May, will announce participation in a project with other counties to reduce greenhouse gases.
• Shaved millions off energy bills by aggressively encouraging use of lower-cost lighting and heating technologies -- from state-of-the-art fluorescent bulbs to green building technologies that cut heating and cooling costs.
• Capital planning and facilities management teams are working hard to ensure that all renovation projects maximize energy efficiency and set example for environmentally responsible governance.
• Highway Department created multi-agency task force to explore new technologies for road building. Started two road construction projects -- one north suburbs, one south suburbs -- that use recycled tire rubber in paving process.

Efforts to improve our public health care system.

• Embarked on ambitious program of reorganization and restructuring designed to deploy new efficiencies while maintaining highest standards of medical care for the patients who depend on us for service.
• Recruited and empowered blue ribbon committee to review, approve and have oversight over proposed financial restructuring plan.
• Consolidated operations in human resources, public affairs and finances, reviewing more consolidation options.
• Brought in needed professional talent, including John Cookingham as the Health Bureau's new CFO, and Cook County's former CFO, Tom Glaser, as the Bureau of Health Services' Chief Operating Officer -- a new position.
• Contracted with vendors to install new “superbill system” to ensure collection of subsidies and insurance dollars.
• Consolidated clinics by half from 26 to 13 with negligible impact on service, continuing to serve fully 96% of patient base and eliminating $10 million in costs from ambulatory health care system.
• Moved to improve services at Stroger Ambulatory Screening Clinic, which functions as gateway to health system.
• Fantus Lab, Fantus Pharmacy, Specialty Care Center and other clinical units have also been targeted for major overhauls to produce greater efficiencies and increase revenues.
• General Medicine Clinic at Stroger, system's busiest and largest adult primary care clinic, logged nearly 70,000 patient visits last year and generated just over $800,000 in revenue. But many examining rooms desperately needed refurbishment and were virtually unusable, so we’ve undertaken massive renovation to double the number of ambulatory screening rooms from 12 to 24.
• Working aggressively to select and train competent managers, add support staff where necessary … particularly health advocates and clerical staff … and ensure that productivity and revenue data is accurate and up-to-date.
• Pharmacy operation that filled over 4.6 million prescriptions last year through mail order and six pharmacy operations at Stroger, CORE, Fantus, Provident and Oak Forest Hospitals is working to cut waiting times, despite fact that we fill 18,000 prescriptions per day system-wide, with much lower staffing ratio than comparable systems. Working to address staffing levels and vacancy rates so operations run more smoothly and efficiently.
• Next steps include adding second Fantus pharmacy, second Stroger pharmacy, opening new Provident pharmacy, enlarging Oak Forest pharmacy, replacing aging computer software, adding Central/Mail Robotic pharmacy at Stroger Hospital. Also expanding efforts to capture free and low-cost medications for patients.
• Improved health care methodologies for County Jail detainees, by consolidating mental health services into one division, centralizing pharmacy distribution, lab work, medical records, psych clinics and crisis intervention response.
• Instead of screening for Sexually Transmitted Diseases at intake – which raised serious privacy concerns for inmates  – established an STD clinic with new info, outreach tools to get detainees services they need.
• Cut back on moonlighting at Cermak, ensuring site is now largely covered by staff doctors and health care providers.
• Automating order systems for lab work, radiology, clinical notes and appointments, and bringing Cermak into compliance with court orders by contracting with Isaac Ray Center for mental health services; increasing level of activity therapy by over one 100 hours per week, and developing plans to computerize entire 10,000-detainee-campus, which is currently managed by an antiquated paper-based system.
• Moving to revamp pathology operations throughout health care system, by implementing new laboratory model in February and bringing on a new medical director and administrative director. Overtime in laboratory system has already been cut by 55%, and staff reductions have saved the system $1.2 million dollars.
• Cut turn-around time for top five most ordered lab tests by roughly 10%.
• Created overlapping shifts, reduced operating hours where viable, established competitive wage packages for health care providers, and moved aggressively to fill vacant positions to cut overtime costs, which cost almost $6 million last year. Initiatives expected to save more than $7 million over two years, and in recent pay period, reduced overtime costs roughly 30 percent compared to a year ago.
• Stepped up efforts to ask outside partners to help shoulder the burden of health care in the region.
• Ssked private hospitals to join us in meeting the costs necessary to maintain the County's Internet Referral Information System, or “IRIS,” linking to 18 federally qualified health centers, in the wake of demise of federal funding for this program. Doctors at those sites (who are not affiliated with or credentialed by Cook County) have until now been able to schedule patients for specialty diagnostic medical services at Cook County's Specialty Care Center. The Center provided $20 million in highly specialized medical care to patients last year.
• Looking at strategies to ensure that Cook County is compensated for care that it provides to residents who hail from other counties -- and in some cases, even other states. 

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