Sen. Brady: Rezko Trial Underscores Need for Change on Health Facilities Board

[April 09, 2008]  SPRINGFIELD -- State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, said Monday that testimony about gubernatorial fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko's alleged influence on the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board clearly shows the need for further changing the way that board does business.

"What we are learning from the trial going on in Chicago should outrage every Illinoisan," Brady said. "It certainly underscores the need for ethics reforms in Illinois, but, just as importantly, it highlights the need for a health care oversight system that operates fairly, efficiently and free of outside influences.

"Apart from the very disturbing testimony of corruption and influence-peddling, we need to be thinking about the heart-attack victim whose life is in jeopardy on a crowded suburban street, miles from an emergency room," Brady said. "We need to think about our family members who want and deserve state-of-the-art medical treatment for their disease, as close to home as possible."

Brady has been pushing to reform the Health Facilities Planning Board for nearly two years. He is currently sponsoring legislation that would:

• Require General Assembly approval of the person recommended by the governor to serve as executive secretary of the board.

• Create a three-member rules revision subcommittee, which must meet at least twice each year to hear recommendations for changing board rules and must report at least once per year to the full board about recommended changes.

• Require at least one board member to be present at any public hearing at which public testimony is presented in response to a health care facility seeking a certificate of need or a certificate of exemption for medical center development or expansions.

"This board oversees the development and expansion of health care facilities, so any problems it encounters could diminish access to health care and put patients at risk. There is no place in this process for ‘pay-to-play' schemes and shakedowns," Brady said. "Nearly four years ago, the legislature responded to initial reports of corruption involving the board, but clearly we need to continue looking at additional changes in the operation of this government agency."

In 2006, Brady chaired a Senate Republican task force that conducted public hearings to examine the efficiency, objectivity and utility of the board, which had been plagued by allegations of corruption. On Nov. 29, 2006, the task force issued a report that recommended structural and operational reforms for the board's efficient operation and a comprehensive review of the usefulness of the board and the certificate-of-need process in overseeing the health care industry.

[Text from file sent on behalf of Sen. Bill Brady by Illinois Senate Republican staff]