Takeover of Cook County Health

By Sean Stillmaker in News on Jun 12, 2010 4:15PM

Last week, the Cook County board voted to give an independent board permanent control over the Cook County health system to curtail incompetency and improve efficiency.The Cook County Health and Hospitals System has been running the system for the last two years with an expiration date of 2011. The 13 to 3 vote on June 1 eliminated the sunset provision and made the board permanent, with the exception of any future legislative action. Cook County has been a long patronage paradise, but the independent operator has been slashing bloated payrolls and moving the health system to become more effective.

Part of its five-year plan is to consolidate hospital services at an estimated savings of $72 million. South suburban Oak Forest Hospital will shut down its 137 licensed hospital beds and be converted into a large outpatient center. The South Side’s Provident Hospital will also be converted into a mainly outpatient center as well. About 20 beds from it’s 220 emergency room would remain, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

Both hospitals employ 1,500 workers combined, but the changes would lead to numerous layoffs. About 1,000 positions have been eliminated over the past year of the county’s roughly 6,200 health care staffers. The independent board will vote on the plan at the end of June and present it to the Cook County Board on July 13 for approval.