Mission
To provide universal access to the world’s best care and health services for all Cook County residents, regardless of the ability to pay, so all may live their healthiest life.
Vision
To ensure health as a human right.
Values
Equity – The assurance of the conditions for optimal health for all people. Achieving health equity requires valuing all individuals and populations equally, recognizing and rectifying historical injustices, and providing resources according to need.*
Compassion – Exhibiting empathy for people who are suffering and a desire to help them.
Respect – Appreciating and respecting each person’s dignity, preferences, and particular requirements irrespective of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation or age.
Accountability – Being held responsible for actions and complying with policies and procedures.
Education – Advancing knowledge and fostering growth through graduate medical education, continuing education opportunities, and professional development.
Innovation – new ideas, methods, technologies, products, or services with the aim of improving healthcare delivery, patient outcomes, and overall efficiency within the healthcare industry.
Strategic Pillars
Quality, Safety and Experience
Highlighted Tactics
- Decrease wait times for primary and specialty care (e.g., throughput, scheduling).
- Leverage emerging technology such as telehealth, remote monitoring and predictive analytics.
- Further integrate behavioral health with primary care at CCH and promote greater access to behavioral health services across the region.
- Establish pathways for justice-involved patients to continue care when discharged to the community.
- Develop targeted initiatives to focus on preserving healthcare for specific populations, including women, LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual), BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), and immigrants, who face more limited access to healthcare due to executive actions, changes to laws and health coverage, or closure of community service providers.
- Partner with external providers to make referrals, improving access to services.
Workforce
Highlighted Tactics
- Implement strategies to promote a workforce that is reflective of the communities CCH serves.
- Reduce reliance on agency personnel to achieve industry standard ratios for agency personnel.
- Improve the hiring process to reduce the time to fill a position.
- Work collaboratively with labor unions on hiring initiatives.
- Conduct succession planning to allow increased employee mobility and opportunity.
- Establish performance-based incentives.
- Conduct pay parity reviews across positions.
- Achieve national accreditation for educational training programs.
- Communicate the various processes available to escalate employee concerns.
- Increase employee engagement scores and survey participation.
- Conduct training to build high-performing teams.
Transformation and Growth
Highlighted Tactics
- Standardize roles, tools, processes and procedures across the organization.
- Leverage emerging technologies to support process improvement and efficiency.
- Continue administrative process improvement efforts (e.g., hiring, procurement, invoice payment, cybersecurity protection).
- Review organizational structure to enable clinicians to focus on patient care.
- Support employee-led projects to help transform system practices.
- Improve processes to meet national benhmarks.
- Align productivity of employees with national benchmarks.
- Health Plan Services’ Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) aligns with industry benchmarks for Medicaid and other products.
- CCDPH develops a plan for growth to align capacity with the needs of suburban Cook County communities.
- Routinely evaluate healthcare services provided by CCH based on community need.
- Diversify insurance products based on the needs of the community in Health Plan Services.
- Modernize technology systems to improve patient care and operational efficiency.
- Ensure patients/members have the information they need to make the best decisions about their health.
- Focus on the social, economic and structural drivers of health outcomes specified in the CCDPH Community Health Improvement Plan.
- Advance public health strategies specified in the 2030 CCDPH Community Health Improvement Plan (formerly known as WePlan).
- Enter into additional value-based care contracts to drive higher quality outcomes and yield positive financial impact.
- Invest in healthcare system-based primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies.
Fiscal Resilience
Highlighted Tactics
- Continue implementation of the multi-year revenue cycle turnaround project.
- Identify opportunities to diversify revenue sources to support unfunded mandates (correctional and public health) and the projected increase in charity care.
- Increase CountyCare member utilization of CCH services.
- Implement ongoing contingency and expense containment planning to ensure CCH is fiscally and operationally nimble.
- Base budgets on annual targets aligned with industry benchmarks.
- Ensure financial counseling is robust and accessible to meet the needs of the growing uninsured and underinsured populations.
- Preserve Medicaid coverage by supporting patients and members with information and navigation.
Community Town Hall Meetings
To receive employee input during the strategic planning process, Cook County Health (CCH) hosted three virtual Employee Town Hall meetings in advance of drafting of the Strategic Plan and conducted an employee survey to obtain valuable feedback. CCH emailed employees and advised them of the opportunity to participate in the town halls. In total, 240 individuals attended the employee Town Hall meetings.
Employee Survey Summary
CCH received 628 responses to the survey. Strengths that were noted included CCH’s enduring mission to serve the community and the high-quality of medical care provided for patients. Weaknesses identified include hiring processes and staffing challenges. Opportunities highlighted included leveraging partnerships and harness emerging technology to enhance patient care. Threats that were noted included federal policy changes and reimbursement structure.
Impact Change Equity Accomplishments
Improved CMS Star Rating from 2 to 3 and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade to a "B" from a "C".
Stroger Hospital was named by the Lown Institute as the #1 most racially inclusive hospital in Illinois and 2nd in the country.
Contract awarded for the new doula program.
Held job fairs to accelerate hiring in key areas, including nursing, navigators, technicians and more.
Exceeded CountyCare member utilization of CCH services revenue targets.
Decreased the number of patients who left the emergency department without being seen at Stroger Hospital to 1% and at Provident Hospital to 2%.
Opened Bronzeville Health Center and behavioral health Crisis Stabilization & Triage Center at Provident Hospital.
Three Year Financial Forecast
English 
Español 
العربية 
Polski 
简体中文 
English