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* Look, I have no informed opinion one way or another about whether Cook County should be allowed to close Oak Forest Hospital and turn it into an outpatient clinic. But the vote today by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board was certainly embarrassing for Gov. Pat Quinn…
The county plan needed five votes to be approved, but only five state board members were present today. Four board members voted for it, and one voted against. The nine-member hospital siting board has three vacancies that Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn needs to approve, and one member was absent today.
County officials blamed the vacancies on the board for today’s defeat. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and health system leaders are regrouping and plan to hold a news conference this afternoon.
If we’re going to have this board, shouldn’t it have the requisite membership? Sheesh, man, get on the stick.
* Background from the county’s perspective…
Oak Forest — which in its early history served as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients — gets six or seven patient admissions a day, but doctors there primarily see people with health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes who would be better cared for in an outpatient setting, according to Dr. Terry Mason, formerly the county health system’s chief medical officer and now interim chief executive.
Speaking with the SouthtownStar editorial board recently, Mason said Oak Forest isn’t set up to treat patients in need of emergency care.
“Our emergency department is nothing more than the end of a hallway,” he said.
* The state’s perspective…
In an analysis of the proposal for the board, the Illinois Department of Public Health determined that the elimination of hospital beds at Oak Forest would result in a shortage of intensive-care and long-term care beds in the Southland.
* Area residents…
.But patients and residents in the area said the remaining health care facilities in southern Cook County was inadequate. Closing Oak Forest Hospital would be detrimental, they said. […]
Lynda DeLaforgue, co-director of Citizen Action Illinois, said the board’s vote gives the county a chance to reevaluate its strategic plan for health care and keep the hospital open.
Word’s been going around that President Preckwinkle may seek state legislation to allow her to close the hospital on her own.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 2:44 pm
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Maybe Senate Bill 1 will help with getting the 400+ board and commission vacancies filled, especially if the legislature overrides Quinn’s delaying amendatory veto.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 2:52 pm
Seems to me to be a stupid rule that approval requires a yes vote from a majority of the statutory board seats regardless of the number of actual appointed board members or members present. Why not permit approval by a majority of members present, assuming a statutory quorum? But as far as I know, the board has always operated this way, even in the Blago/Rezko/Levine period.
Comment by Downstate weed chewing hick Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 2:55 pm
President Preckwinkle is headed in the right direction. get the absent member in session and move forward. you can’t wait on Quinn. The takeover of Provident and the changeover to standard patient care at Oak Forest were gigantic mistakes by the County. who voted against the plan?
Comment by amalia Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 2:58 pm
Serving on that board looks like a pretty thankless task.
Comment by lincoln's beard Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 3:03 pm
Actually, other than for the purposes of clarifying the existing law and avoiding potential litigation, I’m not even sure that the County needs authorizing legislation to allow it to close Oak Forest Hopital. This will be interesting.
Comment by Hon. John Fritchey Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 3:12 pm
Why does the state need to determine hospital siting in the first place? Quality standards I can understand, but shouldn’t the market decide how many hospitals are needed and where they should be, instead of a group of pointed headed commissioners?
Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 3:35 pm
CAN’T ANYONE DO THEIR JOB IN ILLINOIS GOVERNMENT ANYMORE???!
Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 3:39 pm
You sure Quinn didn’t appoint them intentionally?
Those are union jobs at Oak Forest Hospital, you know..
Guess will just have to re-instate Stroger’s sales tax to pay for this ‘mistake’ LOL!
Comment by Kilroy Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 3:56 pm
Here is a sobering assessment of this hospital system which requires $300M of taxpayer subsidies over and ablove the taxpayer subidies provided by Medicaid, and revenue transfers from MediCare.
http://legacy.cookcountygov.com/secretary/CCHHS/2010/Committees/Finance/notices%20&%20agendas/10-22-10%20Revised%20FY2011%20Preliminary%20Budget.pdf
Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 3:59 pm
Today’s decision is a victory for the patients and community in Southern Cook County. This is the second time the State has voted down the proposal.
Comment by Oak Forest Resident Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:00 pm
Is it wrong that I find this hilarious?
Comment by Crow04 Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:02 pm
Even if the board was complete, who knows how those fictional members would have voted…and SB1 is just going to cause more conjestion…. less will get done becuase it will all have to be done simultaniously. sometimes triage is a better policy than admitting everyone…. go figure. Besides, it’s almost impossible to find volunteers given all the constraints on their ability to serve.
Comment by anon2 Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:02 pm
Quinn will find someone to blame. He can do no wrong.
Comment by cassiopia Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:05 pm
“Actually, other than for the purposes of clarifying the existing law and avoiding potential litigation, I’m not even sure that the County needs authorizing legislation to allow it to close Oak Forest Hopital. This will be interesting. ”
Great. Now along with having to pay for the plump union hospital jobs, Cook County taxpayers are also going to have to pay for the lawyers, too.
As usual, Everyone wins!
Comment by Leroy Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:37 pm
What are those members being paid? And they can’t bother to show up.
Sure Gov., there’s no fat in the budget.
Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:46 pm
Six or seven admissions a day? How many empty beds are there, on average?
Comment by soccermom Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:46 pm
Please eliminate this bureaucratic centralized planning agency. It serves no good purpose in a free market society and has been a cesspool of corruption since even before Blagojevich took office.
Comment by Downstate Illinois Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:47 pm
My bad. Looks like they are not paid at all (with credit due to Quinn). Unless, of course, things have changed since September.
http://www.sj-r.com/firstinprint/x802539548/Early-reviews-good-for-new-health-facilities-board
Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:51 pm
Perhaps someone should also check out the failure of the past, and current, administrations regarding the appointment of county public guardians. Currently, 30 counties are without public guardians, nearly 1/3 of all Illinois counties are without one. Some counties are so sparsely populated with so few cases that the lack is not noticed. However, Kankakee county, with a sizeable population, has been without a public guardian for quite some time. In fact, at least 1 individual has apparently put their name into the “hat” to be the next public guardian more than once without any reply. While maybe a minor, backwater, issue - it is indicative of the failure to act and inertia that has gripped the past, and current, administration.
This issue with the hospital board may get more press but there’s alot of stuff not going on that should be….
Perhaps PQ is too busy thinking up quick rejoinders to the press and avoiding visiting Cairo to be bothered with the mundane duties of the governor.
Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 4:53 pm
–Why does the state need to determine hospital siting in the first place? Quality standards I can understand, but shouldn’t the market decide how many hospitals are needed and where they should be, instead of a group of pointed headed commissioners?–
The state pays a good chunk of the bills for these alleged non-profits. It has an interest in ensuring some balanced geographic representation, for the wacky reason that not everyone lives in Winnetka and Bannockburn.
Still a believer in the magic of the unfettered markets, huh? Not even Alan Greenspan rolls that way anymore.
When you get to Colorado, ask John Galt how he planned on pulling off that atheistic Utopia all by himself.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, May 10, 11 @ 8:04 pm