 All eight members of the board were present for the meeting along
with several members of the health department staff, including Mark
Hilliard, administrator; Margie Harris, assistant administrator; and
Sally Gosda, finance director.
Hilliard asked that Gosda give the board a rundown on the
financial health of the agency on the whole.
Gosda explained that the health department is halfway through its
fiscal year. As of the end of May, the agency is standing at a
deficit of $524,000. Gosda said this deficit is not due to
overspending; the agency has expended only 36 percent of its fiscal
budget.
The problem lies in the fact that money coming from the state of
Illinois is drying up. To date, the agency has received only 21
percent of the money that is due to them.
Gosda brought to the board's attention specific figures on state
funding. The state of Illinois ends its fiscal year June 30. From
July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010, state grants to the county health
department totaled $1,163,522. Of that, the health department has
submitted bills to the state totaling $1,037,759. However, the
payments received from the state only amount to $598,220, leaving
$439,967 unpaid.
On the bright side, if there is one, Gosda said that if the
health department were able to immediately collect all the money
owed to them, plus the local tax awards and miscellaneous revenues,
and pay out all of their bills, they would close the books with
$78,000 on hand.
She summarized that on paper the bottom line looks good. The only
real problem is that the state is not paying what they owe.
Hilliard added that the health department does have money in the
bank that will keep things going for a while, but he surmised that
if no money were to come into the agency in the future, the reserve
on hand would last only five to six months.
Gosda was asked if she felt that the agency would ever receive
the money due, and she said that indeed she did. The question is how
long it will take for the state to catch up on making payments.
Hilliard said there are two programs in particular that are being
hard-hit because of the state's inability to pay.
The HealthWorks program, which serves children who are under the
protection of the Department of Children and Family Services, runs
on a grant that is funded on the federal level as well as the state
level.
Hilliard said the money is supposed to be distributed in 12 equal
parts, with payments coming in monthly. The last money received from
the state came in December and was for the months of July and August
2009.
The Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program is funded on a
reimbursement-style program in which the health department submits
its expenditures to the state and receives reimbursement checks.
Gosda said that up until March the state was paying, but now it
seems that payments have stopped, leaving the county health
department holding the bag.
Hilliard said these are the two programs that are of greatest
concern right now, and because of that, he had asked the director of
each program to give a presentation to the board about what they do.
[to top of second column]
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HealthWorks of Illinois
Heather Vose has been the director of this program for the past
six years.
Currently the Logan County Department of Public Health is the
"lead agency" for 13 counties in Illinois and this year is serving a
total of 1,124 children across the entire region.
Vose said that for the coming year, DCFS and the Department of
Human Services have approached the local health department to take
over the program for two more counties, making a total of 15 and a
client base of roughly 1,800 children.
All children receive an initial health screening within 24 hours
of entering the system. Within the first 21 days an additional
"confidence of health exam" has to be completed, and the child has
to be appointed to a primary care physician.
In addition to assuring that services are given as prescribed,
the HealthWorks program works with doctors, specialists and
hospitals to assure that DCFS children have services available to
them. Vose said that currently in the 13-county area, she has 364
physicians, 96 specialists and 13 hospitals participating in the
program.
In addition to medical services, the program also provides for
eye and dental exams.
Other services provided by the program are medical case
management and interim case management. A caseworker is assigned to
each child. They see to it that all medical records on the child are
collected and entered into their files; that exams are completed on
time; that foster parents follow through with primary physicians;
and that children are afforded the services they specifically need.
Vose said the program runs very well and that they have recently
undergone a review in which they exceeded DCFS standards in 44 of 46
performance standards.
___
Part two will cover a discussion of the Illinois Breast and
Cervical Cancer program by its director, Debbie Hoover, as well as
discussions that led up to the board's decision to continue offering
both of these vital services.
[By NILA SMITH]
Online: Logan County
Department of Public Health
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