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Hospital board review gets off to sluggish start

Posted October 23, 2007 11:00 pm

Mike Ramsey

The future of a state panel that evaluates hospital-construction projects may soon be decided - that is, if a task force can be assembled in time to write a report that is due by March 1.

The governor's public health agency, the attorney general and the two Democratic legislative leaders have not yet named voting members to the 19-person task force, spokesmen for the various officials said Tuesday. Republican legislative leaders have.

Now the question may be whether the task force can assemble and draft recommendations for policymakers before the subject of its report, the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, expires in August 2008, as current law requires.

"I would only surmise that if the deadlines approach and the work hasn't been done, the deadlines would probably be extended," Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said Tuesday.

Lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich created the task force in May to study the planning board, which was rocked by a kickback scandal in 2004 before the legislature gave the governor power to revamp the panel. Some observers already have suggested abolishing the board or modifying its mission.

Currently, the planning board decides whether to issue "certificates of need" when Illinois hospitals and other institutions propose large projects or purchases.

Members are supposed to prevent duplication of services within a region.

State Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican who was named to the task force in June, said the bipartisan group should be able to evaluate the board and complete its recommendations by the March deadline.

"The only thing in the way of that (goal) is human nature," Brady said.

A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, which must identify six task force members, said "efforts are under way" to identify appointees.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan's spokeswoman, Robyn Ziegler, said an announcement was expected soon from the office on Madigan's four choices; Madigan or her designee also will serve on the task force.

Meanwhile, the Health Facilities Planning Board's three members worked through a fat agenda this week in Chicago, after canceling meetings in August and October for lack of a quorum. On both occasions, a member was ill and the panel fell one person short of the necessary threshold to make decisions. The board is supposed to have five members and has two vacancies.

"People are concerned, certainly," Ann Guild, vice president for the Illinois Hospital Association, said during a break in the board's Tuesday meeting. She added: "The board can't control the fact that they don't have another member."

Brady has blamed Blagojevich for holding projects up. The governor's office is responsible for selecting board members.

Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for the Democratic governor, said two candidates are undergoing screening to make sure they are free of potential ethical conflicts.

"Something could come up in the vetting process that could disqualify them," she said.

The planning board's three-day meeting was scheduled to conclude today (Wednesday).

Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net.

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