Lake County Community Health Center Governing Council met Nov. 9.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
1. Call to Order
Member Lara joined the meeting at 5:40 p.m.
Chair Smith-Taylor called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
Present 8 - Member Fornero, Vice Chair Brown, Member Tarter, Member Bejster, Member Cunningham, Chair Smith-Taylor, Secretary Argueta and Member Lara
Absent 1 - Member Washington
2. Pledge of Allegiance
Chair Smith-Taylor called upon Member Ross-Cunningham to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
3. Approval of Minutes
3.1 October 12, 2021 Meeting Minutes
A motion was made by Member Ross Cunningham, seconded by Member Fornero, to approve the minutes of the October 12, 2021, regular meeting. Roll call vote, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 7 - Member Fornero, Vice Chair Brown, Member Tarter, Member Bejster, Member Cunningham, Chair Smith-Taylor and Secretary Argueta
Absent: 1 - Member Washington
Not Present: 1 - Member Lara
4. Public Comment to the Council
None
5. Executive Director's Report
Mark Pfister, Executive Director, reported on the following:
1. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra participated in a COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence and Health Equity Roundtable at Jack Benny Middle School in Waukegan today. Mark and some members of the Health Department's pandemic health navigator team were in attendance and spoke. They discussed how the pandemic response was a huge community partnership by large businesses such as Abbvie, Baxter and Abbott, that over 100 community-based organizations served as community health ambassadors, and the efforts of the hospital systems and the pharmacies, such as Walgreens who is the largest provider of doses administered in Lake County. Walgreens, CVS, and Jewel-Osco combined provided well over 250,000 doses. Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center is second with over 100,000 doses provided, with 10% of those being provided at the mass vaccination site at the Lake County Fairgrounds and 5% in the Health Department FQHC's and the Water Street site. The Waukegan School District Superintendent and the President of the Waukegan School Board were also in attendance. The Waukegan School Board President brought his two sons and they each received their age 5-11 dose courtesy of Walgreens. Mark noted that HHS Secretary Becerra is the first Latino to hold that post and he is also in charge of CDC, FDA, HRSA, SAMHSA, and NIH. A large number of agencies that we work with directly and that we get our resources from. After the conclusion of the event at Jack Benny MS, Secretary Becerra and staff, and Congressman Brad Schneider, came to the Health Department to meet with Behavioral Health staff and discuss the work being done on substance abuse disorders and the various federal grants the Health Department is utilizing. Board of Health President Sashko was in attendance at the Health Department event to talk about work he is doing with EMS in regard to those EMS clients who don't have care and how they can be referred to the Health Department or how the Health Department can serve them where they are at.
2. COVID-19 age 5-11 doses have arrived. Twelve hundred doses were received with half of those immediately going to other partners. More doses are expected next week. Starting this week, many pharmacies are now able to administer age 5-11 doses. Kim Burke, Director of Healthcare Operations, and her team have been working very closely with our vendor on a methodology at BMB and North Shore to administer doses to our patients while they are in the exam room. Community clinics continue at Grand Avenue and Midlakes. Jefferson McMillan-Wilhoit, Director of Health Informatics and Technology, and his team have opened up AllVax and there are now several hundred appointments available for our patients and residents that need the age 5-11 vaccination. There are 56,000 individuals in Lake County between the ages of 5 and 11, and with all of the capacity we have in Lake County it shouldn't take that many weeks to get through that age group. Secretary Becerra stated today that the goal is to get the age 5-11 vaccinated before the holidays, which would be ideal, or at least get them their first dose. It is a Pfizer vaccine and is 1/3 of the adult dose. Clinical research shows it has lower side effects and less adverse events than the adult dose, and provides very high protection as efficacy is around 91%. The second dose is to be administered three weeks later.
At this point, Lisa Kroeger, Executive Director Assistant, noted for the record that Member Lara joined the meeting.
6. Action items
6.1 Provider Credentialing and/or Privileging - Dr. Zun
Dr. Zun presented three providers for credentialing and privileging (Pratibha Patel, DPM; Kelly Ratz, PMHNP; Isabel Rojas, DPM) and concurs with the findings of the Personnel Committee to recommend approval.
A motion was made by Member Ross-Cunningham, seconded by Member Bejster, to approve the credentialing and privileging for the providers named, as requested. Roll call vote, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 8 - Member Fornero, Vice Chair Brown, Member Tarter, Member Bejster, Member Cunningham, Chair Smith-Taylor, Secretary Argueta and Member Lara
Absent: 1 - Member Washington
6.2 Provider Reappointment - Dr. Zun
Dr. Zun presented four providers for reappointment (Zina Banna, MD; Jessica Barrera, APRN; Brian Salzverg, MD; Luma Sukkar, MD) and concurs with the findings of the Personnel Committee to recommend approval.
A motion was made by Member Ross-Cunningham, seconded by Member Argueta, to approve the reappointment of the providers named, as requested. Roll call vote, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 8 - Member Fornero, Vice Chair Brown, Member Tarter, Member Bejster, Member Cunningham, Chair Smith-Taylor, Secretary Argueta and Member Lara
Absent: 1 - Member Washington
6.3 Fee Schedule Review for Lake County Health Department (all fees for clinical services) for Implementation in FY22 - Riley
Pam Riley, Director of Finance, reviewed the information provided in the agenda packet.
A motion was made by Member Tarter, seconded by Member Bejster, that the fee schedule for FY2022 be approved as presented. Roll call vote, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 8- Member Fornero, Vice Chair Brown, Member Tarter, Member Bejster, Member Cunningham, Chair Smith-Taylor, Secretary Argueta and Member Lara
Absent: 1 - Member Washington
6.4 Executive Director Performance Evaluation - Sashko
Tim Sashko, Board of Health President, reviewed the information provided in the agenda packet. Mark thanked: the Council for the support they have given and continue to give to him and his team, Member Bejster for her involvement in Strategic Planning, Chair Smith-Taylor for her work with the QI Committee, Member Fornero for the connection with the City of Waukegan Club, and Member Argueta, Member Tarter, Member Brown, Member Ross-Cunningham, and Member Lara for their ideas, contributions, and conversations. And next month the Council will be provided with an update on the Strategic Plan and we will be working with Member Brown on that and involving him in one of our committees. And it has been another banner year for the successful HRSA and The Joint Commission visits.
A motion was made by Member Brown, seconded by Member Fornero, that the Executive Director Performance Evaluation be approved as presented. Roll call vote, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 8 - Member Fornero, Vice Chair Brown, Member Tarter, Member Bejster, Member Cunningham, Chair Smith-Taylor, Secretary Argueta and Member Lara
Absent: 1 - Member Washington
7. Presentations
None
8. Discussion Items
8.1 CQI Update - Hayes
Christina Hayes, CQI Coordinator, reviewed the information provided in the agenda packet. Member Fornero noted that for HIV Linkage to Care, only one compliant patient is indicated and asked if that is correct. Christina explained that there were only two patients who tested positive for HIV and one was linked to care within the 90-days and one was not.
This matter was presented
9. Medical Director Report
9.1 Medical Director Report - Dr. Zun
Dr. Zun reviewed the highlights of his report and its attachment as provided in the agenda packet. In regard to the external specialty referrals, Member Tarter stated that he thought the hospitals were required to provide a certain amount of free care in order to maintain their classification as not-for-profit. Dr. Zun stated that the hospitals provide what they consider to be "charity care" by writing off the bills for the difference in what they charge and what they get paid. He, personally, does not feel that is a good explanation of what they do to get not-for-profit status and it is quite unfortunate. They basically don't want to or say it's too expensive to provide specialty care for our FQHC patients. Mark added that this is a long term discussion he has been having with the hospital presidents, and that community benefit not-for-profit hospitals do not pay any taxes to the local entities. There is a state law that allows them to decide what taxes they would have paid so that they can then decide how much community benefit they have to provide. However, what they are claiming as community benefit is not what community benefit is for. They are using it to educate staff and for CME's. And they have told he, Dr. Zun, and Kim Burke multiple times that they are all paying more than the other hospital. We have now shamed them all in to a round robin. For example, if we have a patient diagnosed with breast cancer, we send them to Advocate Condell for treatment. The next patient would need to go to Northwestern Lake Forest, and the next to Northshore in Highland Park. We brought them a proposal that for $700,000/year, a fund that they would contribute to, we could have a third party handle that fund and actually give them money back from that account. Another reason we are in dire straits is that some of our specialty care patients were going down to Stroger Hospital but Stroger has now closed the door to Lake County residents. Only Cook County residents can use the Cook County hospital system. Dr. Zun and Kim also informed them that we were going to give them HRSA dollars from ARPA to help offset some of the costs for our patients needing specialty care. It's a constant battle and something that he is advocating for and did advocate for today with HHS Secretary Becerra to change this designation. Dr. Zun stated that in regard to the round robin, the hospitals have taken only one or two breast cancer patients for the year, so it's not like we are asking them to take dozens of our cancer patients. We would like to expand that exponentially to provide care for all the seriously ill patients that we care for, not just breast cancer patients.
This matter was presented
10. Director of Healthcare Operations Report
10.1 Director of Healthcare Operations Report - Burke
Kim Burke reviewed the highlights of her report and its attachment as provided in the agenda packet.
This matter was presented
11. Director of Finance Report
11.1 Director of Finance Report - Riley
Pam Riley stated that her September finance report is in the packet and asked for any questions. There were none.
This matter was presented
12. Added to Agenda
Governing Council Nominating Committee Chair Bob Tarter informed the Council that the nominating committee will be meeting on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, to interview a prospective new Council member. He also informed them that the committee met on Monday, October 18, 2021, to nominate the slate of officers for 2022 that is to be presented to the Council at the December 14, 2021 meeting. He noted that of the three nominees only one has yet to confirm.
13. Old Business
None
14. New Business
None
15. Executive Session
None
16. Adjournment
A motion was made by Member Ross-Cunningham, seconded by Member Bejster, that this meeting be adjourned. Chair Smith-Taylor adjourned the meeting at 6:38 p.m.
https://lakecounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=M&ID=902660&GUID=89B69CEE-4FE2-4F61-AF77-A5FBB9DE2A8B
Alerts Sign-up