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Health and Hospitals System

County health system unveils risky 2014 budget blueprint

Cook County Health and Hospitals System officials unveiled Friday the system’s preliminary $1.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2014. The spending plan largely hinges on the continued success of CountyCare, the federal waiver program providing Medicaid coverage to county residents who are newly-qualified for such coverage under the Affordable Care Act. 

Revenue shortfall in CountyCare

Cook County is falling short on the revenue expected to be received from CountyCare, the federal waiver program providing health care to county residents newly qualified for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.  

John Cookinham, chief financial officer of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, told Cook County board members on Wednesday that the shortfall is due to state delays in completing Medicaid applications.

More than 80,000 applications initiated for CountyCare

Cook County has so far exceeded its application targets for CountyCare, the federal waiver program providing health care to county residents who are newly-qualified for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.  

Cook County Hospital CEO explores CountyCare extension

Cook County Health and Hospitals System CEO Ramanathan Raju said that he met this week with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and asked the senator to help extend some form of federal support for CountyCare, an ambitious, federally-funded Medicaid benefits program that expires in January.

“We are basically saying that after the CountyCare demonstration ends we want to continue it in some form,” Raju said on Thursday in an address to the CCHHS board. “We should not dismantle this infrastructure.”

Former John Stroger press secretary lands county job

Cook County Health trims taxpayer subsidy

CountyCare enrollment on target, but questions remain

The state legislature this Tuesday moved to expand Medicaid eligibility in Illinois, effective Jan. 1, 2014, under the landmark federal Affordable Care Act.

Cook County has already initiated 55,000 applications to its CountyCare program for patients newly eligible for Medicaid as a result of federal health care reform. A waiver the county received from the federal government last October allowed the health system to begin enrolling patients in the CountyCare pilot program before the ACA takes effect in January.

Cook County health and hospitals survey shows patient dissatisfaction

A report released this Wednesday by the Cook County Health and Hospitals System shows strong patient dissatisfaction at the 10 county health clinics surveyed by Dr. Krishna Das, interim director of quality and patient safety for CCHHS.

The report faults clinics for long patient wait times, a convoluted appointment process, and a clinical environment that can sometimes treat patients as an “imposition” instead of a “valued person in need.”

County hospital system cites progress on staffing issues

Cook County Health and Hospital System board members on Friday praised the efforts of Gladys Lopez, chief human resources officer of CCHHS, for working overtime to deal with understaffing.

But the board acknowledged that Lopez’s work also underscores the severity of personnel issues at CCHHS. The system is focused on human resources hires, meaning CCHHS is in the process of hiring the people who will then recruit needed medical personnel.

38,000 residents signed up in county’s early Medicaid expansion

The Cook County Health and Hospitals System has begun processing 38,051 applications in its CountyCare program as of April 17, under which people who are eligible for Medicaid as a result of the federal Affordable Care Act can enroll in the program prior to the act’s Jan. 1, 2014 start date.

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