The departure of two members from an Illinois board regulating hospital building and expansion could make it difficult for some high-profile projects to get the votes needed to move ahead.
The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board is down to seven members after two recent resignations. It’s unclear whether new members will be vetted by Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s staff in time for key meetings this spring. Projects need five votes for approval.
Missing one or two members wasn’t as big an issue in years past, when the planning board had 15 members, with eight votes needed for passage. But the board was scaled back to nine members under changes approved last year by the Illinois legislature.
With so few board members, potential conflicts of interest could complicate votes. Because most board members have ties to the health-care industry, it’s common for some to recuse themselves from votes.
“It can legally function with seven board members, but the projects will still have to have five votes for approval,” said Tammy Leonard, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, which provides staff support for the planning board.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office is uncertain when the new members will be named. “We’re working on it,” said spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch.
The board regulates health facility expansions and major medical-equipment purchases, overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in health-care-related capital projects in Illinois each year.
This spring, some of the most hotly contested projects in years are coming before the board. Among them are Advocate Health Care’s plan to build a new hospital in Tinley Park, and a proposal by Edward Hospital in Naperville to build a new hospital in Plainfield.
Both proposals, which could come before the board as early as next month, face intense opposition from rivals who see the planned new facilities as cherry-picking well-insured patients in booming suburbs.
“We don’t know when those board members will be replaced, but we hope they are replaced as swiftly as possible,” said Brian Davis, vice president of marketing for Edward Hospital.
Edward’s project could see at least one board member bow out due to a conflict.
Annamarie Carey York, executive director of Kendall Pointe Surgery Center in Oswego, is uncertain whether she will vote on Edward’s proposal. Edward is a part-owner of Kendall.
But Carey York said she is not beholden to Edward, because the hospital “doesn’t pay her salary.”
“If I feel there is a conflict, I would absolutely not vote,” Carey York said.
Her role in a partially owned Edward entity didn’t stop her from voting in December in favor of Edward’s proposal for a medical office building in Plainfield, which failed on a 6-2 vote. She said she didn’t believe her support for the project was a conflict.
Business health group moves: In an attempt to be closer to its members, Midwest Business Group on Health has relocated downtown from its longtime offices near O’Hare International Airport.
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Midwest Business Group moved last month to the 19th floor of 35 E. Wacker Drive from the Lutheran Center at 8765 Higgins Rd. in Chicago.
“The No. 1 reason we moved is that the good percentage of our total membership is in the downtown area,” said Dr. Dennis Richling, president of Midwest Business Group, a coalition of nearly 70 employers.
“This is really positioning ourselves for what we see as the major direction of the future, which is working with employers on health issues in the Chicagoland area.”