Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1974 Version B [PAGE 76]

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68

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[September 20

Cook County Hospital and the University of Illinois Hospital are changing. The geographic areas served by the two institutions are becoming more congruent, and the need for research into and demonstration of new methods of health care delivery, especially ambulatory care, are acute and identical for both institutions. As a partial response to the latter need, and as an example of benefits to be derived from joint programming, the two institutions have merged their interests in the development of family practice programs. The Department of Family Practice of The Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine of the University of Illinois College of Medicine is largely based at Cook County Hospital, and the resources of both institutions can thus be combined in a concerted effort to improve the care of citizens in Central and West Chicago. This arrangement provides for Cook County Hospital direct access to the resources of the University, such as the School of Public Health and its Center for the Study of Patient Care and Community Health, and the Urban Studies programs of the Chicago Circle campus of the University. The cooperative program gives the University means whereby development of better methods of health care can be worked through and demonstrated effective, and where the critically needed numbers of new health professionals of many types can learn to serve inner city needs. Agreements It seems obvious that any future publicly financed hospitals on the West Side Medical Center must have as principal goals the provision of exemplary comprehensive health care of a kind not now available, and that to provide this care, the hospital must have as secondary goals the development and demonstration of more effective and efficient provision of care. Since these goals are identically those of the University of Illinois Hospital and the Cook County Hospital, they provide, along with the other premises listed above, the basis for the following agreements: 1. As public institutions with similar health care goals, neither Cook County Hospital nor the University of Illinois at the Medical Center will plan for the future wthout taking into account their mutually held goals and interests. 2. The most logical goal of joint planning is the development of new health care resources which will serve the health care needs of the Central and West Side communities of Chicago. 3. In order to implement planning which takes into account this mutuality of interest, the Health and Hospitals Governing Commission and the University of Illinois shall appoint together with the West Side Health Planning Organization a joint task force charged with: (a) exploring all options which have potential as plans for meeting the health care needs of the Central and West Side communities; (b) recommending the inpatient and outpatient facilities required considering existing resources in the area; (c) recommending options for governance of these resources; and (d) recommending options for financing required additional or replacement facilities. The West Side Medical Center Commission shall be requested to send a representative to the task force. 4. The joint task force shall consist of thirteen members, four appointed by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, four appointed by the Health and Hospitals Governing Commission of Cook County, four nominated by the West Side Health Planning Organization, and one nominated by the West Side Medical Center Commission. The chairman shall be elected by the task force at its first meeting. The task force shall be appointed no later than October 1, 1972, and shall hold its first meeting within two weeks of appointment. It shall have the authority to call upon the expertise or assistance of any members of the staff of either institution or of any relevant agency in carrying out this charge. 5. It is recognized that the Governing Commission must plan simultaneously for the remainder of Cook County, i.e., the North, South, and far South Sides, and that the Commission staff will continue planning efforts for those other parts of the County, relating, as necessary, to the joint task force planning for the Central and West Sides of Chicago. For the Health and Hospitals For the University of Illinois Governing Commission of Cook County