Cook County Health’s (CCH) CEO, Dr. Jay Shannon, submitted a $1.7 billion preliminary Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget to the CCH Finance Committee today.

The proposed budget allows CCH to invest in new and existing community-based outpatient clinical services and facilities and to continue to improve the patient experience through a robust Patient Support Center, extended clinic hours and enhanced primary care, specialty care and diagnostic services.

CCH continues to reduce its reliance on county taxpayers. The Cook County Health Fund allocation has been reduced by 75 percent in recent years, from $481 million in FY09 to $125 million proposed for FY16. Today, that local tax allocation and other county support represents less than 11 percent of CCH’ revenues.

“We have a tremendous opportunity before us to redefine not only how the Cook County Health provides care for our patients, but also how our community perceives our system,” said Dr. Jay Shannon, CEO. “In the next year we are going to focus on aligning our services to ensure we are providing our patients the right care, at the right time and place, in a respectful and person-centered manner.”

CCH intends to build a new state-of-the-art regional ambulatory center to serve the Provident Hospital community and also to expand certain services, like ophthalmology, at both Provident and Oak Forest Health Center. The system plans on launching a comprehensive behavioral health strategy in FY16 that will enhance community-based mental health services in order to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits, hospitalizations and detentions for this vulnerable population.

CountyCare, CCH’ Medicaid managed care health plan, is expected have 180,000 members in FY16, generating $952 million in revenue. CountyCare is the largest Medicaid managed care plan serving the residents of Cook County.

Public hearings will be held on Tuesday, August 25 at 9:00 am and 6:00 pm in the CCH Board Room, 1900 W. Polk Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago. The CCH Board will also receive testimony at their Board Meeting on Friday, August 28 at 9:00 am. Individuals can register to speak, submit written testimony and find a copy of the budget presentation at http://www.cookcountyhhs.org/about-cchhs/governance/budget-information/.

Upon approval by the CCH Board of Directors, the 2016 budget will be submitted to the Cook County Board of Commissioners for their consideration and approval.