Not happy with the way Cook County’s health care problems are being handled, a group from the Union League of Chicago recently commissioned a report that makes sweeping recommendations to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
Board President, Todd Stroger, recently announced his nine appointee recommendations for an independent health care board that would be responsible for policy making and spending decisions for the county’s Bureau of Health Services.
The recommendations must be approved by the commissioners. “We are concerned that the nine appointees Todd Stroger proposed to the County Board will not have the authority to efficiently manage the county’s health care system without running into interference from outside influences,” said Richard Benya, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of Illinois- Chicago and chair of the Union League’s health and life science committee.
Stroger’s recommendations are: Daniel Cantrell, staffer to U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-7th); David Carvalho, of the Illinois Public Health Department; Jorge Ramirez, of the Chicago Federation of Labor; Heather O’Donnell, of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability; Norman Bobins, chairman emeritus of LaSalle Bank; Andrea Zopp, of Exelon Corp.; Barbara Hillman, an attorney; Quin Golden, formerly of the Illinois Public Health Department; and Ben Greenspan of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
In addition to financial responsibility,, the report recommends that the independent board have unlimited terms and a more efficient way to select members to serve on the panel in the future. The report is based on other large hospitals that have undergone reform and what worked for them. “Stroger should not be recommending appointees to the board, the board should be recommending candidates to him,” Benya said.
“This way it does not appear that the appointees are obligated to Stroger and can independently make decisions without his input.” The creation of the health care board stems from the county’s longtime fiscal problems, and is part of 2008 budget negotiations. Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D- 13th) pushed for the health panel in return for voting to pass the budget.
“I don’t care who runs the system as long as it remains free and convenient to get,” said Eloise Ware, 67, who gets her prescriptions filled for free at the county’s John Stroger Hospital on the West Side. “Without the county I don’t know how I would be able to get my medicines each month.” Joann Whitehead goes to the county’s Provident Hospital on the South Side.
“If Stroger and the county board want to make improvements they should hire more doctors so people are not sitting in the emergency room for eight hours before being seen by a doctor.”
______ Copyright 2008 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
