 After hearing from Heather Vose, the director of HealthWorks, about
that program and how it works, they next turned their attention to
Debbie Hoover, the director of the second program, as she presented
a review of what the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program
does for the community. Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer
Program
The IBCCP provides screening tests for breast and cervical cancer
for qualified women ages 35 to 64.
Hoover said that once screening is completed, if test results
come back with any abnormality, the program then pays for additional
services, including consultants, biopsy and even surgery if
warranted.
The program works according to the Medicaid treatment law, which
dictates that once a diagnosis of cancer is made, there must be
provisions for treatment for women who would otherwise not be able
to go forward with treatment on their own.
Hoover said that among other things, once a diagnosis is made,
the program speeds up the process of getting a medical card and
beginning treatment. She went on to say that in most cases, without
the help of the program, older clients without dependent children
would not even be able to get a medical card.
Like the HealthWorks program, the IBCCP works with local doctors,
hospitals and labs to provide services to the clients. Currently the
program has 44 physicians, 12 labs and 10 ancillary service
providers participating.
The Logan County Department of Public Health is the lead agency
for the program in an eight-county region in central Illinois and
this year has served a total of 759 clients.
Funds come into the program through the Center for Disease
Control on a federal level, plus state of Illinois general revenue
funds and a few private grants, such as Stand Against Cancer and two
grants from the Susan G. Komen Foundation, one from the Peoria
division and another from Decatur.
In addition to diagnosis and treatment, the program conducts a
great deal of outreach, raising awareness and offering education
about breast and cervical cancer.
The program also offers case management, providing supportive
services once a diagnosis is made and throughout the treatment
process.
Referrals to other services and programs are offered when a
diagnosis of cancer is not within the realm of IBCCP.
And finally, the program works with the Regional Cancer
Partnership in conducting colon and prostate cancer screenings.
Board reaches decisions
During the discussion period, Sally Gosda, finance director for
the health department, outlined revenues from the two programs for
the past few years.
It was noted that the HealthWorks program is slated to get a 10
percent increase this year, plus, if the agency takes on two
additional counties for the 2011 year, the size of the grant will
increase.
Mark Hilliard, health department administrator, said the added
grant funds would be necessary because the caseload would increase
by about 60 percent with the addition of Peoria and Marshall
counties, and this would require additional staff for
the program.
Margie Harris, assistant administrator at the health department,
explained that the HealthWorks program came out of a lawsuit and is
now mandated by law and must be administered
through the local health departments; therefore, it is not at risk
of being eliminated from the state budget.
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Harris explained that the IBCCP was initiated while Jim Edgar was in
office as governor. She said that Edgar's wife was the driving force
behind the program. In addition, the IBCCP grants have been
dedicated to the memory of the late state Sen. Penny Severns, who
championed the work of the Illinois Department of Public Health and
ultimately lost her life to cancer in 1998. Harris said that the
program is very popular with the IDPH.
Vose explained that there is going to be a change in the
distribution of funds for HealthWorks that should increase the cash
flow in the program.
In the past, the federal funds have been a pass-through from DCFS
to IDHS, with the actual checks being cut by the state comptroller's
office.
In the future, DCFS is going to start issuing the checks. This
should make a difference in the availability of working cash for the
program.
In the grants for these programs, there is money for client
services and there is also money for administration. The
administration funding covers payroll for the program personnel and
also contributes to the payroll of the county health department's
administrative staff. In addition, the administrative funding pays
for space in the health department building as well as a percentage
of the utility costs.
Harris commented that the programs have also purchased computer
equipment and some furnishings for the Lincoln facility, all of
which were allowable expenditures under their grant rules.
Letting the programs go altogether would mean that all
administrative expenditures would have to be cut back or funding
found from another source.
Hilliard also commented that without administrative funds, it
would be difficult for the health department to continue with some
of the programs they are mandated to offer that are not fully
funded.
He also surmised that the problem with the state is that they are
waiting on revenues from the new fiscal year to pay obligations from
the past year. He said that working this way, they are growing
increasingly behind, and that will continue to be the case until
they have resolved their financial issues.
Board president Roger Bock commented: "The state is running off
of our money. We have a checking balance of $624,000, but eventually
we're going to get to the point where our checking account is not
going to cover their shortfall."
The question was then posed: What happens when the health
department runs out of money? Gosda and Hilliard both said it
is their hope that before that happens, some of the local funding
will come through, such as local tax levy dollars.
In the end, Hilliard said that he saw the board as having three
options: Drop the programs, keep them going, or keep them going
short-term and see what happens. In addition, they had to decide
whether or not to take on the added counties for the HealthWorks
program.
Board members Dr. Richard Biven, Robert Cox, Dr. Paul Kasa and
Mike Rohrer all spoke in favor of keeping the programs running and
adding the two new counties to the HealthWorks program.
It was also stated out loud that the board has complete
confidence in administrative staff Hilliard, Harris and Gosda
keeping a close eye on the situations and notifying the board if
matters should take a turn for the worst.
Board member David Hepler, who is the health board's
representative from the Logan County Board, made the appropriate
motion, which then passed by unanimous vote.
[By NILA SMITH]
Online: Logan County
Department of Public Health
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