CCHHS Board Meeting - October 27, 2011

The meeting was called to order at 7:40am by Chairman Batts. Four public speakers began the meeting. One speaker objected to the two proposed Price Waterhouse Coopers contract extensions on the agenda stating that the costs should have been included within the scope of their original contract. He stated that he runs a similar business and the costs cited would normally be included in an initial contract for such services. A Stroger physician presented the ongoing challenges of providing good patient care and the Mental Health Specialist IIs again appealed to the board to not eliminate their positions at Cermak Hospital to be replaced by MHSIII.

In approving the minutes of the Finance Committee three items were exempted from the approval as they were awaiting approval of Contract Compliance. Director Carvalho asked for guidance from the State's Attorney on whether waiting for Contract Compliance keeps the contract from moving forward. Now these contracts will have to wait another month for board approval and he asked that those submitting such contracts indicate if delay in approval will impact service delivery.

Mr. Cookinham, interim CFO, was asked to provide an update on the backlog of pending medicaide claims with the state. He stated that the rejection rate is about the same but he did not give a percentage and said the processing for 2011 has about three more weeks to go. Director Carvalho stated that he had heard that the county process was qualifying those patients who had medicare, insurance, or some source of payment and then all others were being sent to the state to sort out whether they would qualify for medicaide or not. He wanted to know what the percentage of payments that were not being sent anywhere was. Mr. Cookinham said he would check on this but he didn't think that the process was to just send them all to the state to see if they qualified.

A Shakman Compliance Monitor is to be hired and will report to Cathy Bodnar, CCHHS Chief Compliance Officer.

A representative from the Procurement Office reported on changes that have been made to the CCHHS Procurement Policy so that it will be in compliance with the changes in the Cook County code that was approved by the CC Board and went into effect on October 7. The major changes include:

• Approval by the board only necessary for contracts over $150,000
• Quarterly reports to the board on purchases less than $150,000
• All purchases are to be listed on a website
• Supply Chain Managment will be able to terminate contracts in accordance with terms in contracts and can amend contracts up to $150,000
• Requests for bids will now be posted on the internet not in newspaper

Dir. Carvalho requested that the log of complaints of interference with the supply chain process also be posted on the internet. A motion was made to amend the policy accordingly. The amendment was approved as was the policy.

The board was asked to ratify the changes that were made to the CCHHS budget in the President's Executive Budget that was presented to the board on Tuesday. Dr. Raju, CEO, stated that his team had worked with the President's office to come to a compromise on the budget and he had made changes that would not reduce serves or personnel but would challenge them to be more efficient. He intended to review all contracts going forward and hoped that the budget would pass with no further amendments as he needs to focus on other matters and not spend months enmeshed in budget struggles. In further discussion it was noted that this budget reflects another quarter cent reduction in sales tax and there will be another reduction next year. In order to preserve quality services the system will need to focus on the issues of increasing revenue and keeping patients coming to CCHHS. Also it was pointed out that they will have to address the often avoided issue of productivity which has plagued the system and that encompasses management issues and infrastructure issues that are wide spread. The revised proposed budget was approved. Chairman Batts said there are two public hearings scheduled for public comment on the revised HHS budget. Transcripts of the hearings will be provided to the CC Board. The public hearings that the CC Board is holding will not address the HHS portion of the budget.

Chairman Batts also stated that he has a donor for the Foundation that the board has set up but they need to get the Foundation Board up and running so they can accept the money. They still need to find outside persons to serve on the board although they have a list of potential members.

Cathy Bodnar, Chief Compliance Officer, gave a presentation on the CCHHS Conflict of Interest Policy.

Dr. Raju, the newly hired CEO, reported that his vision for CCHHS is that they will continue to do good work and become a national model for excellent care. There will be challenges since these are difficult economic times and it will take time. He stated that the Nominating Comm. for the board met and has submitted 3 names to President Preckwinkle to fill the position on the CCHHS board left vacant by the resignation of Andrea Zopp. He also said that Provident Hospital had an excellent Joint Commission report and he commended the staff for their work.

The meeting went into closed session at 9:50am to discuss collective bargaining agreements. The observer left at that time.