In an era when public money is getting harder and harder to come by, any cuts to a budget hurt, and it was against this backdrop that Cook County North Shore Hospital and Care Center (CCNSHCC) Administrator Kimber Wraalstad told the hospital board at its February 18 meeting that the county had cut $15,000 from its home health care funds.
Wraalstad said the county recently sent CCNSHCC the annual purchase of service contract from Cook County Public Health and Human Services (PHHS) and it was a reduction of 37.5 percent from past years.
Typical assistance provided under this contract is for skilled nursing, home rehabilitative and home health aide services.
“This amount [$25,000] is a $15,000 reduction from the $40,000 allowed in 2015,” said Wraalstad.
Hospital Board Member Tom Spence questioned why the cut was made. Wraalstad responded, “Several years ago it was the intent for the Cook County Public Health Board to ultimately eliminate this contract.
“In 2013, after further discussion and analysis, the Public Health Board reconsidered their intention and in 2014 and 2015 continued to fund this program at $40,000 per year. With budget constraints and the thought that more county residents are covered by some type of health insurance, it was the decision of the Public Health Board to approve the Public Health and Human Services budget including a $25,000 allocation for the home health care program.”
Spence asked for clarification, restating that the county decided that since more people were covered under health insurance, they didn’t have to contribute as much to this fund?
“Yes,” said Wraaslstad, adding that insurance plans rarely cover these types of visits.
“North Shore Home Care bills this sliding fee program only if no other payer is appropriate and it is used as the payer of last resort,” she said.
“Do we need to provide these services?” Spence asked.
Hospital Board Member Sharon Bloomquist said she felt the hospital should lend assistance to people who might not be able to pay for it or get help anywhere else, especially when considering that most are older people who have long paid taxes to support the hospital.
“In essence then, the county expected us to increase our levy to cover these costs so they wouldn’t have to increase their levy as much,” Spence said, adding that it was only a matter of time before the county kept cutting and would contribute nothing to the fund.
Spence asked the rest of the board if they thought it would be a good idea to set up a meeting between the hospital board and county, and they agreed with him.
Spence asked Wraalstad to set up a meeting between the hospital board and County Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk, the commissioner liaison to the hospital board and with Sue Futterer, director of PHHS to see if they could avoid this from happening next year before the hospital and county set their levies.
“It’s almost going to be a game of chicken,” said Spence. “But we need to make it very clear to the public that if our levy goes up next year, it’s because of what the county has done.”
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