McHenry County Blog

Almost twenty days ago, McHenry County Blog reported on Medicare penalties being levied by the Federal government on local hospitals.

While the article focused on hospitals serving local patients, a Chicago Tribune article Thursday reported on hospitals statewide.

Being early in the alphabet helps businesses in the phone book, but is not necessarily an advantage in a list of hospitals being penalized.

Those Illinois hospitals getting the biggest penalty for high readmission rates within a month for Medicare patients are show in the graphic above.  Click to enlarge.

Hospitals McHenry County patients use most are listed below

• Centegra Health System – Woodstock Hospital, Woodstock 1.00%
• Centegra Health System – McHenry Hospital, McHenry 1.00%
• Swedish American Hospital, Rockford 0.64%
• Sherman Hospital, Elgin 0.61%
• Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Barrington 0.48%
• Provena – Saint Joseph Hospital, Elgin, 0.27%
• Rockford Memorial Hospital, Rockford 0.26%
• Saint Anthony Medical Center, Rockford 0.04%

Bill Baar’s West Side blog led me to the story of how the Obama Administration is penalizing hospitals it judges to have too high readmission rates, for Medicare patients.

Centegra’s Woodstock Hospital

Fox News explains, “Starting in October, Medicare will reduce reimbursements to hospitals with high 30-day readmission rates — which refers to patients who return within a month — by as much as 1 percent. The maximum penalty increases to 2 percent the following year and 3 percent in 2014.”

The Fox News article quotes a doctor as saying, “The readmission measures are risk-adjusted measures.”

Hospitals McHenry County patients use most are listed below

• Centegra Health System – Woodstock Hospital, Woodstock 1.00%
• Centegra Health System – McHenry Hospital, McHenry 1.00%
• Swedish American Hospital, Rockford 0.64%
• Sherman Hospital, Elgin 0.61%
• Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Barrington 0.48%
• Provena – Saint Joseph Hospital, Elgin, 0.27%
• Rockford Memorial Hospital, Rockford 0.26%
• Saint Anthony Medical Center, Rockford 0.04%

Zane Seipler

One might have thought the campaign ended with the Republican primary victory of McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren over Zane Seipler, the deputy Nygren never wants to see in the Sheriff’s Department again.

But Seipler’s blog, McHenry County Sheriff’s Department Exposed, continues to taunt the Sheriff. His most recent post tells of his father Russell Seipler was an NTSB investigator of the devastating Fox River Grove school bus-Metra train crash in the mid-1990′s. (My brother-in-law Dr. Joe Giangrasso was in Good Shepherd’s Emergency Room when the kids were brought in and my wife was chasing reporters out of hospital bathrooms, where at least one was hiding.)

Five-pointed star can be seen on McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren's chest in this photo used on a spring campaign mailing.

Seipler’s civil suit continues in the deposition stage, as one can glean from reading between the lines on MCSDExposed.blogspot.com.

Seipler has hired an attorney to elaborate on his pro se filing prior to primary election day.

The first allegations read as follows:

“Elected Official Sheriff Nygren has abused his position and continues to violate the law. An emblem of the Sheriff’s department which Sheriff Nygren was supposed to use for the limited purpose of securing his election is now being used publicly by McHenry County. To this end, tax payer dollars are being used to further Sheriff Nygren’s political goals.

“Additionally, Sheriff Nygren failed to report or investigate the illegal conduct by Deputy Michael Cooper, as should be in line with his duties under the General Orders of McHenry County. Given the importance of maintaining the integrity of the State’s Attorney’s office and the significance of these crimes, it is vital for an independent prosecutor to be appointed to investigate these matters.”

McHenry County Sheriff's Department Crime Safety Trailer in Crystal Lake's Independence Day Parade had a seven-pointed star.

It continues,

“Sheriff Nygren is involved in criminal conduct in the following two ways:

1. the illegal usage of the Sheriff’s campaign logo on multiple pieces of government property; and
2. the failure to investigate known criminal activity by Deputy Michael J. Cooper as related to the State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi investigation.”

The legal filing points out that the Sheriff’s Department has a five-pointed star “used on County documentation and can be seen on an emblem…worn by deputies.”

The seven-pointed star on Sheriff Keith Nygren's campaign convertible.

There is also a seven-pointed star, it continues, that was created by Nygren for campaign purposes.

Another photo from the 4th of July Parade in Crystal Lake shows a seven-pointed star on a snow mobile trailer.

“Without sanction, Sheriff’s Nygren created a campaign logo for political reasons and then illegally continued to use a political logo instead of the official logo on County property,” Seipler charges.

The question is whether the person charged with official misconduct manipulated his public office or employment in order to perform a proscribed act. Id.

“Clearly, Sheriff Nygren exploited his position as the Sheriff by using bus personal political logo on state property to market himself and his campaign.”

There is a seven-pointed star on the back of the prisoner bus.

Six examples are offered as evidence relating to documents, as I read the legal document.

In addition, Seipler offers nine more examples on “buses, cars, envelope openers, motorcycles and even tanks.”

Such use violates these state laws, the filing continues:

• Official Misconduct, 720 ILCS 5/33-3(b) and (c) and
• Prohibited Political activities, 5 ILCS 430/5-15(a) and (b)

“Clearly, Sheriff Nygren exploited his position as the Sheriff by using bus [his?] personal political logo on state property to market himself and his campaign.

“Additionally, he used the services of the state and therefore used taxpayer dollars for the installation of these logo – patently abusing his power as a public official,”

During the welcoming ceremony before the tour of the McHenry County Jail by visiting Chinese political leaders, I took this photo near the front door of the main entrance. I see there is a seven-pointed star on the wall between "McHenry County" and "Sheriff."

Seipler’s brief charges.

McHenry County Sheriff stands behind a podium with a seven-pointed star at what appears to be an official function. The banner behind him has two seven-pointed stars.

“The question is whether the person charged with official misconduct manipulated his public office or employment in order to perform a proscribed act. Id. Clearly, Sheriff Nygren exploited his position as the Sheriff by using bus personal political logo on state property to market himself and his campaign.”

Next comes the part about Deputy Michael Cooper and his involvement with Amy Dalby is addressed.

“Dalby gave the USB key drive (from McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi’s office) to Michael J. Cooper, Sheriff Keith Nygren’s deputy and security guard. Deputy Cooper kept the USB key drive with the illegally obtained information in a safety deposit box. He never reported this illegally obtained material to the State Police or any other law enforcement authority.”

A Keith Nygren golf outing fund raising silent auction sheet with a seven-pointed star. State Rep. Jack Franks donates a "Page for a Day" and Dan Regna bids on it. (Click to enlarge.)

Nygren’s lack of investigation of this activity, which Seipler’s brief contends violated the law,

“include, but are not limited to:

(a) Illegal actions;
(b) Dereliction of duty
(c ) Malfeasance
(d) Misfeasance
(e) Conduct that may publicly discredit the Sheriff’s Office.”

The conclusion offered follows:

“Sheriff Nygren failed to report and/or investigate Deputy Michael Cooper’s conduct. While it is not clear if Nygren failed to report the deputy because of his relationship with Dan Regna, it is clear that Michael Cooper’s conduct was illegal and Nygren had a duty to investigate it.”

Next the appointment of a special prosecutor is requested.

McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren posed in his office with Dan Regna, the GOP primary candidate for State's Attorney he supported against incumbent Lou Bianchi. Regna succeeded in getting Associate Judge Gordon Graham to appoint a special prosecutor to probe Bianchi's alleged use of county resources to advance his political campaign.

Although there seems to be little love lost between McHenry County two chief law enforcement officers, State’s Attorney Bianchi has been representing Nygren, as the law proscribes

If that request for a special prosecutor is granted by Associate Judge Thomas A. Meyer, both Bianchi and Nygren would be facing special prosecutors.

Nygren ally Dan Regna, Bianchi’s Republican primary opponent two years ago, successfully sought a special investigator to probe Bianchi’s alleged political use of his office. Judge Gordon Graham is the associate judge that ruled in Regna’s favor.

Since then, Independent judicial candidate Sally Wiggins has filed to oppose Graham Republican candidacy in the fall election.

Nygren is being opposed by Democrat Mike Mahon and Green Gus Philpott.

The next court date is August 12th at 10 AM.

One of the data sets issued by Medicare cuts to the chase.

It’s about mortality.

Death rates to the rest of us.

When I was managing state employee benefits (my consolation prize after running against Roland Burris for State Comptroller in 1982), hospitals were complaining that comparing death rates wasn’t fair because some hospitals, especially the teaching hospitals, had sicker patients to begin with.

I guess that compison problem has apparently been overcome. Either that or Medicare doesn’t care.

Good Shepherd is rated as “Better than national rates,” while Woodstock and McHenry rank as “No different from U.S. National Rate” concerning death rates for heart attack patients.

The same difference shows up for heart failure as far as death rates go.

For pneumonia, however, McHenry’s, Woodstock’s and Barrington’s hospitals are near the national average.

The Federal government has released data showing the use of medical imaging for hospitals across the country.

The data base allows the comparison of three hospitals on one page, so I selected Barrington’s, McHenry’s and Woodstock’s.

Taking a look at the information provided below and you can get some idea of what the Feds think of the utilization rates for the bottom three.

Even after reading the explanation for the first one, no lay person would be able to figure out where the numbers should be.

The explanation talks about “high,” but gives no clue as what would be considered too high.

Why even publish the numbers if there is to be no way to interpret them.

The other three have explanations within the descriptions to the left.

Let’s look at them.

With regard to mammograms, the explanation above says,

“A number that is much lower than 8% may mean there’s not enough follow-up. A number much higher than 14% may mean there’s too much unnecessary follow-up.”

Good Shepherd’s at 9% is a bit above the national and state averages, but below the 14% mentioned as too high.

Woodstock’s is at 3.4% and McHenry’s at 5.2%.

While Centegra’s hospitals are on the low end of the follow-up mammogram array, they are on the high end of double abdomen scans.  Both are more than three times the national average.

Good Shepherd is 31%lower than the national average.

What does the explanation say?

“The range for this measure is 0 to 1. A number very close to 1 may mean that too many patients are being given a double scan when a single scan is all they need.”

Here’s an interesting web site that allows viewers to compare three hospitals. I took the three who serve most McHenry County patients, Advocate Good Shepherd, Centegra McHenry and Centegra Woodstock.

Look at what patients filling out questionnaires said about each:

The lowest scores of any questions had to do with whether patients rooms were quiet at night.

The three local hospitals not only fall well below national standards for keeping hospital rooms quiet at night, they even fall below Illinois standards.

Mid-forties was the best any of the three facilities could do.

Boy is that a “Needs improvement.” I’d add, “Now!”

Before I need to spend the night.

None of the hospitals could make it above 78% on clean “always.”

In the all important category of “Would you recommend this hospital to your friends?” Good Shepherd came out on top at 73%.  Woodstock scored 67%, McHenry 69%.

I don’t know if the difference is statistically significant.

More on the subject tomorrow.

Jeremiah Silas O’Neill was born at Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington on November 10.

The big boy was 10 pounds, 10 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long.

His mother Basia accompanies her children to McHenry West High School for Marlin Swim team practice and mentioned she was a bit past due date, but that was not abnormal for her.

And what shows up but a big baby boy.

“Coincidentally enough, he was born while Senator Pam Althoff, Senator Dan Duffy, State Rep Mike Tryon, and State Rep Mark Beaubien were meeting with the Nursing staff at Good Shepherd to discuss how the Health Care bill, now headed to the Senate, may affect them,’ father John O’Neill reports.

“So really, all of McHenry County’s Republican lawmakers from Springfield were there along with the Republican hopeful; I was just busy holding my wife’s hand while she was giving birth.”

O’Neill, a member of both the McHenry Elementary School Board and the McHenry Library Board is the first Republican to challenge incumbent Democratic Party State Rep. Jack Franks in two election cycles.

At the intersection of Routes 31 and 176, two health care systems have dueling billboards.

I noticed the one on Route 176 first. It faces east, so commuters returning to Crystal Lake can read it.

It’s advertising Advocate Good Shepherd’s new intermediate care facility across from the new Metra Pingree Grove station.

It says,

is on the the left hand side beneath the big print.

On the right hand side is

Unfortunately, it gives folks no idea where in Crystal Lake.

On Route 31 facing north where people traveling from McHenry can see it, if they look behind the Citgo station, is a similar message from Centegra.

It says,

Below, on the left hand side, is

Crystal Lake
Behind
Dominick’s

On the right hand side of the bottom of the billboard is

Good Shepherd’s message about ER docs is presumably what differentiates its service from Centegra’s.

The doctors staffing that office from 8-8 each day of the week are all Board Certified Emergency Care physicians.

But, there’s no way anyone could figure out where it is located from the billboard.

The Centegra billboard’s message, on the other hand, directs anyone interested to locations which are easy to find.

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My brother-in-law, Dr. Joseph Giangrasso, heads up Good Shepherd’s emergency room operation.

The idea of a wrist radio transmitter to help find missing people will become a reality starting April 2nd.

Soon-to-be elected (because she is unopposed) Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore re-surfaced the concept last year. Her Huntley precinct contains much of Sun City.

Twenty minutes is the average time it takes to find a lost relative using the system, which the head of Good Shepherd’s Emergency Department, Dr. Joe Giangrasso likens to a LoJack system for people.

Sponsored by Advocate’s Good Shepherd Hospital, the program was announced at the grand opening of the new Crystal Lake intermediate care facility across from the Pingree Road Metra Station. It is staffed by a Board Certified Emergency Care doctor each day from 8 to 8.

The wrist radios will allow the tracking of those with Alzheimer’s, Down’s Syndrome or Autism who are prone to wander.

Upon notification of the police in Huntley and Crystal Lake, or McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren in the rest of McHenry County, the search begins.

Here is the Good Shepherd press release:

Care Trak safety net technology for McHenry County’s Autistic, Alzheimer’s residents launches April 2nd

(Crystal Lake, IL) Care Trak®, an advanced wireless tracking technology that serves as a safety net for families and caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer’s, Autism and Down’s Syndrome, will roll out at a special launch event on Thursday, April 2nd. The event will be held 11:00am at the McHenry County Mental Health Board, 620 Dakota Street, Crystal Lake.

Members of the media and interested residents are encouraged to attend. Intake professionals from the Family Alliance will be on hand to enroll family members and the Crystal Lake police and McHenry County Sheriff’s Office may be able to provide a real-time demonstration of the technology.

Last fall, a coalition of law enforcement, health care and social service agencies announced that three separate Care Trak® systems would be deployed, operational and ready to serve McHenry County residents in early 2009.

All three systems – one in Crystal Lake, another in Huntley, and a third as a county-wide system to be managed and operated by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office – were funded entirely by Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington.

The majority of patients Good Shepherd cares for are McHenry County residents.

Each participant in the program is required only to pay a one-time rental fee for a tracking bracelet and a modest monthly maintenance fee.

What is Care Trak®?

The technology employs unique radio transmitter devices that are secured on a person’s wrist or ankle, and enables law enforcement to pinpoint the precise location of an individual who may have wandered from their home or place of care. Individuals with Autism, Down’s or forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, are prone to wander off or become disoriented.

Only law enforcement agencies are authorized to operate these systems, and specific criteria is in place for an individual to qualify being covered using the technology:

• The individual must be clinically diagnosed with Autism, Down’s syndrome or a form of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s;
• They must have a full-time caregiver, either by a family member or clinical professional;
• The person has demonstrated being prone to wander off.

Other contributors

In addition to Good Shepherd, law enforcement partners and Family Alliance providing professionals to screen and enroll residents, other key organizations have joined the effort to bring this to their communities, including:

• McHenry County Mental Health Board
• McHenry Autism Group
• Talk About Curing Autism
• Autumn Leaves, a memory care facility in Huntley
• Bickford, a memory care facility set to open soon in Crystal Lake
• Crystal Lake Dawn Breakers Club of Rotary International

About Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital

Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Illinois is an acute care medical facility with approximately physicians representing 50 medical specialties. It is part of Advocate Health Care, the largest, health care delivery system in Illinois, which in 2007 provided $344 million in community benefit, charity care and services for Chicago area residents. For more about Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, click on the link.

About Family Alliance

Family Alliance, Inc.’s mission is to enable seniors to remain at home by providing best-of-practice day programming, advocacy and counseling, while supplying respite, education, training and support to their caregivers. A not-for-profit, comprehensive geriatric health facility serving seniors and their caregivers Family Alliance’s programs help mentally and physically frail elderly to remain at home and in the care of loved ones, avoiding premature placement in nursing homes. Family Alliance’s services are not duplicated by another McHenry County agency, and remains the only adult day health care service in McHenry County. For more about Family Alliance, click on the link

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McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren can be seen showing Linda Moore a wanted posted for Edward Sylvio Demers, who walked away from his home in Johnsburg on October 13, 2003. He has not been seen since.

Because my brother-in-law Dr. Joe Giangrasso (seen above with Dr. Liz Horvath) heads up the Emergency Room operation at Good Shepherd Hospital, I got advance notice last summer of his department’s new facility in Crystal Lake across from Metra’s Pingree Road Station.

It features Board Certified Emergency Care physicians on duty from 8 AM to 8 PM seven days a week. I figure there’s no need to drive out of town for most minor emergencies. And, no need to pay emergency room prices for an ER doctor’s care.

The following press release popped into my in box Friday. At the bottom is a fact I was not aware of–

more than half of Good Shepherd Hospital’s patients are from McHenry County.

City of Crystal Lake
Honors
Advocate Good Shepherd

The Economic Development Committee of the City of Crystal Lake is honoring Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital for the three-story facility it opened in the community last September.

The committee announced Friday that it would present its 2008 Community Investment Award to Good Shepherd administrators at 4:30 pm, Wednesday, March 25th in the lobby of their new 72,000-square foot building at 525 Congress Parkway, Crystal Lake.

The Outpatient & Immediate Care Center is also home to comprehensive imaging services, its own clinical lab, and primary care and specialty physicians.

Kathy Lapacek, vice president of business development at Good Shepherd said,

“This is a great honor for Advocate, and I think it reaffirms how seriously we take our commitment to meeting the healthcare needs of the Crystal Lake community.”

She elaborated,

“Certainly the building itself is beautiful and represents a significant investment, but we’re also very proud of our partnership with the talented doctors that provide care for area residents at our immediate care center.”

The center is the only one of its kind in McHenry County to be staffed 100 percent by board-certified emergency medicine physicians (ER doctors.)

About Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital:

Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Illinois is an acute care medical facility with almost 700 physicians representing 50 medical specialties. For 30 years, Good Shepherd has served its communities by providing quality, compassionate care. It is part of Advocate Health Care, one of the top ten health care systems in the country and the largest health care delivery system in Illinois, which provided $344 million in community benefit and charity care in 2007.

Slightly more than half of all Good Shepherd patients are McHenry County residents. It is a leader in delivering some of the most advanced technologies and techniques to the northwest suburbs. Its comprehensive cardiac care center was named #1 in the State of Illinois for overall cardiac care and cardiology by HealthGrades, the nation’s leading hospital quality ratings organization.

Here’s more about Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital

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Radiologic Techologist Mike Heft proudly showed me the Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine above.