Consultants for the Cook County Health and Hospitals will recommend that the system look to the county's northwest corridor as a new market, while using Oak Forest Hospital as a regional outpatient center.
John Abendshien, a consultant working on a long-term strategic plan for the system, told hospital board members that changes in health care will require more locations to treat more patients, and they must be ready.
"There is going to be a rising tide of demand," he said during the board's regular meeting today. Read more...
Lee Kidd is 56 years old and HIV positive. And he’s fed up with the kind of customer service he receives at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System.
Kidd addressed health system leaders today at Stroger Hospital, complaining about wasting three hours trying to get his wisdom teeth pulled, only to find out the procedure wasn’t offered at the time for which his operation was scheduled.
But patients like Kidd may be heartened to know that customer service is very much on the minds of the county health system’s leaders.
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...
It’s unlikely we’ve heard the last of the sales tax debate. But for now, the sales tax is staying right where it is.
Commissioner Tony Peraica’s bid to axe the remaining half-percent of the 2008 sales tax hike was defeated by county commissioners at Tuesday’s board meeting. Commissioners in the finance committee voted 11-6 against the measure.
Voting nay were Commissioners William Beavers, Jerry Butler, John Daley, Bridget Gainer, Joseph Mario Moreno, Joan Patricia Murphy, Edwin Reyes, Deborah Sims, Robert Steele and Larry Suffredin. Read more...
The Cook County Health and Hospitals System and the University of Chicago Medical Center are taking the first steps to explore a partnership.
The county health board this morning agreed to split the cost with UCMC of a study examining the feasibility of a joint venture.
As the county health system juggles an imminent drop in funding, a growing patient load and rising operational costs, health board leaders see a UCMC marriage as a way to up its patient visits at Provident Hospital, which sees an average of fewer than 70 patients a day. Read more...
