IN ORDER TO BUILD AN INDEPENDENT HEALTH NETWORK, WE MUST…

• MAKE THE COOK COUNTY HEALTH AND HOSPITALS SYSTEM PERMANENT: Right now, the CCHHS’s mandate ends in 2011, three years after it was chartered. The CCHHS has proposed bold, but necessary, reforms to the health care network. That only comes with the liberty to act free of political interference.

• EXPAND A DECENTRALIZED HEALTH CARE NETWORK: In 2007, Cook County closed seven ambulatory clinics. In doing so, we took the wrong step away from providing quality services to Cook County residents. We must refocus our system on decentralizing primary care facilities so that patients can stay close to home, and out of needed emergency services.

• DEDICATE RESOURCES TO COOK COUNTY RESIDENTS: Residents of the collar counties and other locales are routinely sent to our health care network for care. As a public hospital system supported by Cook County residents, we must dedicate the resources for non-life threatening conditions to Cook County residents first and foremost.

IN ORDER TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE IT NETWORK, WE MUST…

• BUILD A COMPREHENSIVE PATIENT HEALTH INFORMATION NETWORK: The Veterans Health Administration has successfully integrated over 1,400 health care centers nationwide into an integrated information network. We can build a Cook County model using VistA’s open source code to develop a network that addresses our needs.

• INTEGRATE AN EFFECTIVE BILLING SYSTEM: Cook County routinely fails to accurately bill for its patient’s services. The breakdown has cost our health system $200 million in past Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, depriving taxpayers and residents of necessary health care. Effectively integrating an automated billing system will help to accurately and efficiently collect monies due.