On Friday, as leaders of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System approved a three-year $6.4 million contract for laundry and linen services, small businesses renewed claims that they're being pushed away. And this time county commissioners are joining them in complaining about the health system's use of a group purchasing organization.
The contract, with Cincinnati-based Standard Textile Co., Inc., is expected to save the health system 38 percent of its current contract with Lorain, Ohio-based Angelica Corporation. And health system leaders say a rebate program will net an additional $2 million.
But a growing clamor from county commissioners and small business owners illustrates that not everyone is comfortable with the health system’s use of a centralized group purchasing program, which health system leaders expect to save up to $20 million a year. So far, however, the health system has been unable to prove those savings. Read more...
Stroger Hospital official Jamil Ahmad displays medical supplies. /Credit: Alex Parker
When leaders of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System signed a controversial medical supply contract in September, they promised savings of about $20 million annually.
Small business owners vociferously protested the health board’s decision, saying they would be cut out of the bidding process.
Now, six months after the county signed the three-year, $500 million medical supply deal with UHC/Novation, local businesses say their dire predictions have come true, and point to dramatically reduced county contracts. Read more...
The Cook County Health and Hospitals System aims to save $500,000 a year by buying supplies in bulk rates.
A contract with U.S. Food Service, a group purchaser, cuts the county’s food contracts from 11 to one, says spokesman Lucio Guerrero. The deal, announced this week, is part of broader cost-cutting measures at the health system in recent months.
"This is just one part of the substantial savings we will realize," said William Foley, the health system's chief executive. "We will continue to find ways to make sure that we are wisely using taxpayer money while making sure that patient quality doesn't suffer." Read more...
In 2008, Oak Forest Hospital’s emergency department saw an average of eight patients a day. Of its 213 beds, only 55 to 60 are in use.
The bed count at Provident Hospital has steadily shrunk to 85, and only 60 are in use.
It’s inefficiencies like these, which can mean high operating costs and hefty budgets, that are key in the debate of whether to close Oak Forest and Provident. Read more...
Commissioners are debating the future of old Cook County Hosptial
The hulking building at 1900 W. Harrison is a Chicago landmark, without a doubt.
For 95 years, old Cook County Hospital has served as a center for health care, a tribute to architecture and a set for TV shows and movies, such as “E.R.” and “The Fugitive.”
But its future was uncertain when the gleaming John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital opened in 2002. What would happen to the old hospital? It could have been torn down or renovated for condos. Anything, really, was better than having it stand surrounded by cold iron fences, a home to pigeons, with vines creeping up the sides of the building. Read more...
