Cook County Bureau of Health is Not the Only One

Almost absent from the discussion about County budgets and safety net health care is the realization that community health centers are a big part of the picture.  In the Chicago metro area, community health centers (CHCs) take care of 500,000 individuals, regardless of their ability to pay; in Illinois, we care for almost 1,000,000;  in the US 16,000,000. 

According to the Illinois Primary Health Care Association, community health centers in in Illinois provide cost-effective care. Health care costs for CHCs are an average of 30% lower than other providers serving the safety net population.  CHCs save dollars spent on unnecessary emergency room care and through the lower use of specialty and in-patient hospital care. With 268 primary care sites in Illinois, over half of those in the Chicago metro area, CHCs are a decentralized solution to primary care delivery.

Cook County leadership should recognize the critical role played by CHCs.  By collaborating on health care services for the under-served, CHCs  save the County dollars while improving the overall quality of care.

Important collaborations between the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and CHCs already exist but are at risk of being cut due to the County's budget crisis.  CHCs may no longer be able to accept referrals to provide primary care to patients released  from County facilities such as Stroger Hospital's  ER if the County cannot provide specialty care for CHC patients in exchange. Ditto for County's provision of pharmacy services for those County patients enrolled for ongoing care at CHC who have the most complex of chronic illnesses.

Only visionaries in health care policy and planning who have a sharp financial accounting pencil currently see the tremendous potential synergy between CHCs and the Cook County Bureau of Health Services.  The Bureau is not the only one out there providing safety net health care and needs to stop acting like it is.