October 16, 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.

Blue Ribbon Panel Releases Report on Bureau of Health Services at County Board Meeting  

October 16, 2007, CHICAGO – Cook County Board President Todd Stroger announced the release today of the long-anticipated report of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services Review Committee, a blue ribbon panel his administration convened earlier this year to take an unvarnished look at the Bureau, its operations, its strengths and limitations, and its vision for the future.

Dr. Larry Goodman, president and chief executive officer of Rush University Medical Center and Chair of the Review Committee, formally presented the report to Cook County Commissioners at today’s County Board meeting.

President Stroger convened the 10-member review committee to review critical issues at the Cook County Bureau of Health Services. President Stroger has embraced the report, noting that the findings to a great extent validate the assessments and policies that members of his administration have put forward in the last nine months.

“These findings also reinforce what thousands of residents both within and outside of our County boundaries already know,” Stroger said. “The Cook County Bureau of Health Services anchors one of the region's most vital civic projects – a health care safety net that ensures the well-being of thousands of individuals and the larger communities in which they and their families live.”

Stroger has expressed his commitment to ensuring that each of the Committee’s findings are provided with a full and open dialogue – and the requisite next steps – to ensure that Cook County implements recommendations required to ensure that the County’s health care system remains viable over the long term.

“We owe no less to the nurses, doctors, technicians and other staff who work so hard each day to provide our patients with quality health care – and most importantly, we owe no less to our patients, their families and their communities,” Stroger added. “Our clients, our workforce and the taxpayers deserve a system that employs best practices and takes the politics out of the provision of health care to people in need.”

The committee came to a number of key conclusions, including that:

• The Cook County Bureau of Health Services plays a major role in the health of this region.
• Overall, the Bureau of Health Services provides high quality health care.
• The Bureau is particularly important to the most vulnerable members of our community, and is the largest and most important component of the safety net of medical services for our region.
• The Bureau has historically delivered on its mission with a scope of services that has greatly strengthened the safety net.
• The system is currently at great risk in the wake of funding reductions and uncertainty about future funding.
• The Bureau has only begun developing key business practices in the wake of this year’s restructuring, a process which must be sharpened and refined to enhance good governance and oversight.
• Capital expenditures for 2006 and 2007 are not adequate to sustain the scope and level of services provided by the system, and Bureau leadership and management are not adequately involved in capital funding decisions.
• Political dynamics inherent in the current governing and oversight process for the Bureau has slowed down the pace of needed change and delayed identification of creative solutions.
• Bureau administrators need to be granted the authority to manage responsibly in a range of areas, including hiring and firing, procurement, signature authority, selection of consultants and other vendors and other necessary day-to-day operating activities – all of which are currently curtailed under prevailing oversight procedures.

President Stroger’s administration has already begun implementing improvements in some areas of need that the Committee identified, including work on revamping the Bureau’s human resources functions and instituting financial reporting mechanisms designed to give managers swift access to accurate financial data.

Besides Dr. Goodman, members of the review committee included Kathleen K. DeVine, Chief Executive Officer of Saint Anthony Hospital; David S. Hefner, President of the University of Chicago Medical Center; Catherine A. Jacobson, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Rush University Medical Center; Richard M. Jaffee, Chair of Oil-Dri Corporation of America and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Rush University Medical Center; Valerie B. Jarrett, Chief Executive Officer of the Habitat Company and Chair of the Board of the University of Chicago Hospital; Terry Mason, M.D., Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health; Lori J. Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle; Eric E. Whitaker, M.D., MPH, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health; and John Wiest, Chief Financial Officer of the Lee Memorial Health System in Ft. Meyers, Florida.
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For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

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