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Finance committee approves a package of health and workforce appropriations, and funds consultant study for Medicare/Medicaid billing
Summary
The committee approved transfers and appropriations for health‑department temporary staff, suicide‑prevention and respiratory surveillance grants, sponsorship funds for workforce services and a $150,000 request from contingency to fund an RFP for a Medicaid/Medicare billing consultant to assist Sunny Hill and the county health department.
The Will County finance committee approved multiple budget actions covering public‑health programming and workforce sponsorships and voted to use contingency funds to seek a consultant to review Medicare and Medicaid billing and reimbursement practices for the county health department and Sunny Hill nursing facility.
Committee members unanimously approved a transfer within the health department budget to cover temporary contracted staff while permanent hires are pursued. Elizabeth Bellata of the Will County Health Department described the temporary contractors as stopgap staff until permanent hires are in place.
The committee also approved appropriations to support suicide‑prevention programming in the health department; staff said funds will be used for training, office supplies and peer‑support work with police, fire and dispatch agencies. Elizabeth Bellata described the program as training peer responders within first‑responder agencies and providing gun locks and related prevention tools.
A separate appropriation was approved for respiratory surveillance, a grant intended to fund communicable‑disease investigators and outbreak response for respiratory illnesses and other public‑health events. Staff explained the grant supports outbreak response in nursing homes and other congregate settings and noted federal funding for surveillance programs may be at risk.
The committee approved the appropriation of sponsorship funds already received by workforce services for a Pathways to Professions event. Staff said the event has already occurred and the sponsorship receipts are being formalized in the workforce budget.
On a related item, the committee approved a request to use county board contingency funds (one‑time, not recurring) to issue a request for proposals and hire a consultant to help Sunny Hill and the health department review billing and reimbursement practices for Medicare, Medicaid and managed care. Directors from Sunny Hill and the health department described growing administrative strains: managed‑care claims, Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviews and recoupment requests have created revenue and documentation pressure. Sunny Hill staff said prior audits and recoupment demands have required staff time to respond and that Medicaid accounts for a large portion of revenue at the facility.
Finance and Sunny Hill leaders said the $150,000 contingency request would fund an RFP and short‑term consulting engagement; contingency funds would be transferred into appropriate department professional‑services lines for payment. Committee members asked for reporting on scope, expected deliverables and whether some savings or recoupments have already been identified. The committee approved the contingency transfer and instructed staff to work with the executive office on routing funds and RFP language.
Votes: Items were approved by voice or roll call as recorded in committee minutes; where a roll call was requested, members voted in favor and motions carried.
