Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1974 Version B [PAGE 343]

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1973}

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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use of resources in the West Side Medical Center District was both logical and necessary. An exploration of alternatives was deemed warranted. The Task Force met in biweekly sessions for some eight months supplemented by extensive and continuous staff work by personnel of both institutions. By June IS, 1973, a series of recommendations had been formulated which on that date received the unanimous endorsement of the Task Force. Two basic alternatives are presented with a preference indicated for the theoretical optimum of the two institutions merging funding and management resources with the objective of constructing a single 1,100 bed hospital to replace both the Cook County Hospital and the University of Illinois Hospital. This number of beds would represent a substantial reduction over the present operating capacities of the two institutions, but the number would be a rational commitment to estimated community needs and could be accompanied by a decentralization of services in other areas of the county by the Health and Hospitals Governing Commission. A second acceptable alternative would involve separate funding and construction programs and separate management but with a continuation of cooperative planning. The need for early decision-making has been underscored by the Task Force. Also noted as crucial is the role of the West Side Health Planning Organization in assaying all of the health care needs of the West Side and in influencing improved patterns of care. The West Side Health Planning Organization in an open meeting held June 7, 1973, voted the adoption of the Task Force recommendations. The Executive Committee of the University of Illinois Hospital staff, meeting on June 26, 1973, similarly approved the recommendations with emphasis on allowing no more than four weeks for discussions to determine the feasibility of a merger of the Cook County_ Hospital and the University of Illinois Hospital. The current situation is admittedly a most complex one, and it is easy to suggest a multiplicity of additional studies that could extend for several years into the future. There is a long history, however, that attests to the desirability of early decision-making. The increasing evidences of physical deterioration and functional obsolescence afflicting both the Cook County Hospital and the University of Illinois Hospital have been subjected to repeated evaluations, and within recent years several proposals have been advanced. In January 1970 the University presented at a formal press conference the results of a detailed planning analysis completed by Lester Gorsline Associates. It was recommended at that time that the University construct, as a first phase, a 500 bed unit that would be adequate for complex referral cases. Another 1,000 beds was suggested in a second phase to fulfill what was interpreted as the combined community responsibilities of Cook County Hospital and the University of Illinois Hospital and would be a total number adequate for the projected student enrollment. In 1971 the Governor's Coordinator of Health Services established an ad hoc committee with representatives from his office, Cook County Hospital, and the University of Illinois. After many months of deliberation it was proposed that the following major events take place in one or more phases: (1) The University of Illinois Hospital replace its obsolete beds; (2) the Health and Hospitals Governing Commission provide appropriate patient care facilities in the midsouth and far south areas; and (3) the Health and Hospitals Governing Commission restudy its role in the West Side Medical Center, defer any construction, and evaluate a merger with the University of Illinois Hospital in the future. At a special meeting called by the Medical Center Commission, these proposals were not fully endorsed by Cook County Hospital representatives, and another study group was appointed which met over a period of many months without noticeably productive results. The Medical Advisory Committee of the Health Education Commission of the Board of Higher Education has in its past reviews repeatedly asked about the University's commitment to the provision of health services on the West Side and has stressed the essentiality of comprehensive health planning. It has recommended a clarification of relationships between Cook County Hospital and the University of Illinois Hospital, and a careful analysis of the replacement