Live reporting by
Charlene Rhinehart
CountyCare has seen a steady decline in enrolled members, trends that fit within broader trends in the Cook County and Illinois Medicaid market. Despite these declines, CountyCare’s market share has increased.
Good morning! I'll be live-tweeting today's Cook County Board of Commissioners Board of Directors of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System meeting today for #CHIdocumenters @CHIdocumenters The meeting is set to start at 9:00 a.m. and will take place at 1950 W. Polk Street.
08:41 AM Apr 4, 2025 CDT


The next regular meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 25th at 9am.


Acknowledge opening of the Behavioral Health Clinical Triage and Stabilization Center at Provident Hospital with a Ribbon cutting on March 18

Recognize the 20th Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit in Chicago hosted by Chicago food policy action council.

Spanish language CountyCare commercial aired on Telemundo during this year's Super Bowl game.

Recognize Donna Hampton Smith Community Resource Navigator who received a Cook County Peggy A. Montes Award Unsung Heroine Award for her contributions as a leader in Chicago's Washington Park neighborhood.

Alice Cameron, Executive Director, HIV services honored with the 25th annual Women Making History Award by the National Council of Negro Women.

Recognize Simi Joseph, System Senior Director of Nursing Innovation & Research on her selection as a 2025 American Association of Nurse Practitioners Fellow.

Item 2: Public Testimony - No registrations or written testimony.


Item 4B. Director Garza: Human Resources Committee Meeting, March 6, 2025 - presented meeting minutes for consideration.

Item 4C: Quality and Patient Safety Committee Meeting, March 14, 2025 9:35-9:40/Director Bhatt - Approval of proposed Stroger Hospital and Provident Hospital Medical Staff Appointments/Reappointments/Changes - Approved.

4D. Finance Committee Meeting, March 6, 2025 9:40-9:45/Director Reiter. Next mtg will be May 8. Meeting Minutes, which include the following action items: • Approval of Contracts and Procurement Items • Receive and file Grant Award-Related Items. Approved.

Item 5. V. Action Items A. Contracts and Procurement Items 9:45-9:50/Charles Jones, Chief Procurement Officer. Item #1 withdrawn.

Report from CEO - Strategic Plan and ARPA Update - Update on ARPA Obligations – Andrea Gibson - Accomplishments: Chicago Executive Forum awarded Stroger team an Innovation Award. Launched digital campaign to promote ExpressCare..

Andrea Gibson - Report from CEO - Strategy Initiatives March - Launched marketing campaign to increase awareness about HIV testing and services.

Andrea Gibson - ARPA Progress to Date - Spent $60.5 million to date. The county corporate fund will cover FY2025 personnel.

Andrea Gibson - Strategic Plan 2026-2028: Cancer Center Service Line

Cancer Center Service Line - Q: What does it mean when a value is health equity? We want just care for the community we serve. We don't think our mission has changed in that regard.

Cancer center accomplishments: Implementation of Supportive Oncology Programming, Ongoing optimization of revenue cycle (Prior Authorization, Patient Registration/No Show Rate Reduction Processes)

Cancer Center accomplishments: Received Patient Choice Award for highest performing clinic in 'Likelihood of Recommending' category, Brought in $5.7M in NIH grant funds

Planned Activities - Cancer Center: Modernize BReast Cancer and Mammography, increase reproductive health support in cancer survivorship care, Partner with Pharmacy and Hospital Administration to open PB infusion center Pharmacy,

Planned Activities - Cancer Center: Partner with Nuclear Medicine to fully implement Theranostic PSMA PET scans CCH

Under Evaluation for FY2026-FY2028 - Launch CAR T-cell Therapy, Establish Oncology Triage Clinic

Service Line Strategies (Neurosciences) presented by Sohel Ahmed, MD and Annmarie Caulfield, MBA. Neurosciences Service Line Accomplishments: Opened tele-stroke services, implemented continuous EEG program, opened neuro-transfer service, hired critical people to service line

Service Line Strategies (Neurosciences) presented by Sohel Ahmed, MD and Annmarie Caulfield, MBA. Planned activities: Partner with community hospitals to offer tele-neurology and tele-stroke services, launch Brain Recovery Multidisciplinary Clinic, Recruit Neuro IR Med Director

Service Line Strategies (Neurosciences) presented by Sohel Ahmed, MD and Annmarie Caulfield, MBA. Under Evaluation for FY2026-FY2028: Open an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, Establish Cook County Health Neurology Residency Program, and Achieve TJC Comprehensive Stroke Accreditation

SWOT (Andrea Gibson): Strengths - Community outreach/engagement, use of social media, gains in quality of care ratings, improved financial position, network of services available to CountyCare members, Nursing pathways to excellence work and nursing training programs,

SWOT (Andrea Gibson): Strengths - Provident scholarship program, being part of the County Government

SWOT (Andrea Gibson): Weaknesses - Reliance on agency staffing, timely access to services, Having sufficient clinical staff, operating in silos/culture, allocation of business managers to clinical teams, succession planning

SWOT (Andrea Gibson): Opportunities - Focus on population health, preventive health, implementation of Value-Based Care arrangements, broaden ability to address health related social needs (housing, food), Further leveraging technology including telehealth/virtual health, AI

SWOT (Andrea Gibson): Opportunities - Expand accelerated hiring program, leverage partnerships with other healthcare organizations, ensure appropriate escalation of concerns within CCH, continuing employee engagement and retention program

SWOT (Andrea Gibson): Threats - Cybersecurity, changes to Medicaid eligibility requirements, federal policy changes in reimbursement, growing uninsured and underinsured population to be served, Healthcare workforce shortage, decreasing vaccination rates

Board of Director Meeting - Employment Plan Office 21st Semi Annual Report (Kimberly Craft) - Employment plan is the manual that contains structured processes for hiring. Designed to prohibit discrimination. Processes are proactive and require transparency.

Board of Director Meeting - Employment Plan Office 21st Semi Annual Report (Kimberly Craft) - Employment plan office - prepare training materials, audit employee actions, prepare semi-annual reports, investigate and report on complaints of non-compliance with the Plan's procedure

Board of Director Meeting - Employment Plan Office 21st Semi Annual Report (Kimberly Craft) - "In mid March and mid September we release a report that address employment plan related activities. The report today covers July-December 2024."

Board of Director Meeting - Employment Plan Office 21st Semi Annual Report (Kimberly Craft): Policy - approved use of Accelerated Hiring pilot process for formerly Hektoen positions. New resources - Win Buren, Chief Human Resources Officer joined.

Metrics: Managed Care Committee - Decreasing Medicaid enrollment - Blue Cross Blue Shield continues to be the second in Cook County with a 27.8% market share. Data shows Medicaid enrollment continues to shrink.

