Oct 21, 2009 5:02 pm US/Central
2 Area Hospitals May Stop Surgeries To Save Money
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Two Chicago area hospitals are floating a plan to stop admitting patients in a move to save money. CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports that the new managers at the Cook County Health & Hospitals System believe an ongoing budget crunch requires new measures to make the system work more efficiently and more cohesively.
Shermon Wylie, 58, spent four-and-a-half weeks at Oak Forest Hospital because of diabetes he didn't know he had. He was close to death and ultimately lost several toes. Wylie says Oak Forest doctors saved his foot and his life.
"And not just me," Wylie said. "They saved a lot of other individuals who come here, those who do not have insurance."
At Provident Hospital, Alvin Davenport had hernia surgery. He couldn't believe the hospital may no longer be admitting patients.
"What's the sense of having a hospital if they don't do no surgery or admit nobody in," Davenport said.
But that's exactly the cost-cutting plan for both Provident and Oak Forest Hospitals that's being floated by the new, independent Cook County Hospital Board.
"We feel if we do nothing, it's just not sustainable in the long run. We don't see any more revenues flowing in," said William Foley, CEO of Cook County Hospitals.
Under the plan, both Provident and Oak Forest would primarily provide outpatient care. Patients who need to be admitted for treatment would go to Stroger Hospital, or be sent to private hospitals that would partner with Cook County.
But both doctors and patients wonder if private hospitals would really take the indigent patients at Oak Forest and Provident.
"Our concern is make sure that they wouldn't cherry pick, that they would take all our patients, and treat them as well as we do, regardless of their ability to pay," said Dr. Homer Abiad, president of the medical staff at Oak Forest Hospital.
Foley says the plan isn't a service cut. Provident and Oak Forest would become expanded hubs for key services like colonoscopies and mammograms, and outpatient surgeries as well.
"We see it as providing services in a more accessible way, closer to where people live, and more comprehensive care," Foley said.
Foley insists the plan would actually provide more medical services to more patients at dramatically lower cost.
But it's proving to be a tough sell. Reaction at two public hearings has been negative, if not downright hostile.
Five more hearings are scheduled, including Wednesday night in Niles.
This plan isn't a done deal. The Cook County Board must still sign off on the service changes and the overall hospital budget.
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