Board of Directors

We are getting started! Item 1 on our agenda is employee recognition

Dr. Michael Hoffman is being recognized for his role as a lead physician of the COVID-19 Medical and Surgical Units at Cook County Health. He wrote a recent op-ed for the Sun-Times https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/9/20/22684202/cook-county-health-stroger-covid-19-dr-michael-hoffman

Next up the team behind the first successful Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedure at Stroger Hospital https://t.co/HHKotMo4iS

Now public comment, first one regarding recruitment and retention in Radiology. The pre-submitted comment is raising concerns about wait times (up to 6 months) due to short-staffing

“We need to invest in a cross-training program” the comment says to retain highly skilled techs in the radiology. They are calling for budget revisions to more equitably compensate staff.

Next up a comment from a building manager at Stroger. They are also rising concerns about vacancies in environmental safety which impact cleanliness and disease control in the hospital

Specifically there are concerns about an over-reliance on contracts with outside agencies instead of retaining staff

On to our committee updates, first up in HR

HR confirms that hiring is trending at a slower pace, noting that there is a resourcing issues within HR which limits recruitment https://t.co/hFKEsUEiQ3

Separations are also trending higher, resignations lead the separations. “many of them are notable, losing nursing, physicians, and medical assistants” https://t.co/K0wSlbjos8

Director Harrington is asking about the role of COVID burnout in staffing concerns. HR is responding that they are not able to determine the reasons why people are exiting and why there is challenge recruiting. Exit interviews are being conducted.

“I would expect that COVID is playing a role but that has not been proven”

There is a trend across all health care institutions in challenges recruiting talent

Moving on to the Managed Care Committee, which did not meet this month, we are starting with metrics

Membership trends are continuing https://t.co/ZsY9C3dXNq

The hospital system is at about 31% of the overall Medicaid membership market in Cook County

There is some staffing attrition at the call center, which has increased wait times and abandonment rates, the board is in communication with the vendor about this and monitoring trends

Director Koetting is asking about the attrition rate and what caused this, it seems that other centers in the area increased pay rate that lead to attrition, the vendor has increased the pay rate to aid in recruitment

Director Koetting is pointing out that the call center is critical to patient retention and satisfaction

Quality and Patient Safety Committee is up next

We are going through some metrics, starting with the readmission rate, which has shown improvement over the past 12 months compared to the previous 12 months https://t.co/GaHDC20p2A

There was a slight increase in patient likelihood to recommend Stroger to others https://t.co/qFaIvpaysg

Head over here for tweets from the meeting:

https://twitter.com/NicHodgkinson1/status/1441403436713512960?s=20

On to the Finance Committee Meeting updates

We are going to go through a series of requests via a summary of higher levels items, the first is to extend a contract with Bank of America for IT equipment, this is a $0 change but needs to get approval from the board to continue

Now we are looking at the finance metrics for the year https://t.co/NFqK9ltMq4

We are now discussing an item that would increase the current contract for Care Coordination spending. This item was taken from the Finance Committee meeting and brought to the general board for discussion https://t.co/D36w0DJFZp

This increased cost request is related to increased membership in the plan

There is a concern from a director about the timeline to bring a new contract to market before the end of December 2021 to avoid any disruption to membership

“We probably should have had the RFP out by August 1st, but that’s water under the bridge, so my question is what resources do you need now?”

There may be a need for a short term extension of a contract

Another director is amplifying these concerns, “this isn’t going to get done by December, so the question is how do we proceed”

This somewhat last minute change and request for a RFP is a ripple effect from unexpected increase in membership

In the short-term, the committee is hoping to get approval today and turn around an RFP timeline ASAP to get something planned that is both safe and efficient. In the long-term, the committee is working on improving their line of site so this issue doesn’t reoccur in the future

The main concern here is that a switch in vendor could cause disruption to services that would have widespread effects to patients

We are now reviewing grants received

Here is a summary:
Highlights include COVID-19 electronic health data and opioid treatment funds https://t.co/TxFtefvGIx

Here is a summary of key financial metrics https://t.co/9VNxylxsVe

We are now moving to a combined motion to approve minutes from all committees we just heard from

Unanimous approval with 10 votes and 2 absences

Correction 10 votes, 2 absences, 1 abstain due to potential conflict of interest with RFP discussed by finance committee

On to the CEO report

There is a new CFO joining the team Pam Cassara coming to us from the Northern Indiana hospital system

Update on the mandate for all employees to be vaccinated by October 1st: 81% of staff are fully vaccinated and weekly testing for those unvaccinated has commenced

Of particular urgency for Cook County Hospital system as a public hospital, new federal mandates mean that unvaccinated staff cannot receive reimbursement through Medicaid. “People will be required to be vaccinated to be part of our staff”

Regarding boosters, status as a health care working alone does not qualify someone for a booster, however the CEO is encouraging those who have health complications to coordinate with their doctors

CEO updates with some breaking news that this ruling re: health care employees qualify for boosters is being challenged so there will be future updates to come! Regardless, CCHS is ready to roll out boosters efficiently to those that qualify to residents of cook county and staff

Now for an update of the annual trip of CCHS CEO to DC where they advocated for Medicaid coverage for individuals being released from incarceration for 30 days as well as investment in the safety net infrastructure

They also advocated for increased resources around maternal mortality and complications

Meeting adjourned at 10:48 am! This concludes the Board of Directors meeting of the Cook County Hospital System. For more meeting coverage, check out http://documenters.org #CHIDocumenters @CHIdocumenters