McHenry County Blog

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.

The following press release has been received from the U.S. Attorney’s Office concerning Lake County’s Condell Health Network and Medical Center.

A press release from Condell says,

“Condell’s integration plans with Advocate Health Care, the state’s largest health care system, are not impacted by the Settlement Agreement.”

Locally, Advocate owns and operates Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington.

The press release follows:

CHICAGO – Condell Health Network, parent corporation of Condell Medical Center, a 283-bed hospital in Libertyville – after voluntarily disclosing that it received improper Medicare and Medicaid payments – has agreed without litigation to pay the United States and the State of Illinois $36 million as a result of filing false claims for reimbursement, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Condell, the largest health care provider in Lake County, made the voluntary disclosure earlier this year while in the process of being acquired by Advocate Health Care, of Oak Brook, which was scheduled to be completed today.

The settlement involves three aspects of the relationship between Condell and its physicians from 2002 through 2007:

• leases of medical office space at rates below fair market value;
• improper loans to physicians; and
• hospital reimbursement to doctors who performed patient services without required written agreements.

By voluntarily disclosing these improper practices, Condell avoided a Government lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act and was able to negotiate a settlement at a discount.

The settlement agreement calls for Condell to pay the

• United States $33.12 million to resolve claims relating to Medicare patients and
• $2.88 million to the State of Illinois to settle claims relating to Medicaid patients.

The False Claims Act provides that parties who voluntarily disclose possible violations are liable for double damages, instead of triple damages, and civil penalties between $5,500 and $11,000 for each violation.

“We commend Condell for bringing these practices to our attention. We expect health care providers to come forward when they discover issues that could rise to the level of fraud without waiting for us to catch up to them, and when they do so, they may well benefit,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. He announced the settlement with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice Civil Division.

As part of the $36 million settlement, Condell does not admit liability and agreed to the settlement to avoid the delay, uncertainty and expense of protracted litigation.

According to the settlement agreement, Condell leased space in medical office buildings it owned to physicians in violation of federal laws and regulations governing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement because either the rental rates were below fair market value or Condell abated or deferred collection of rental payments.

Condell also gave loans to physicians and improperly allowed them to “work off” the debts at hourly rates that were greater than fair market value, as well as with activities that did not benefit the community.

Condell extended loans to doctors without assessing whether there was a particular community need for such arrangements or physicians, provided loans to doctors already in the hospital’s service area, gave loans that benefitted individual doctors or physician groups rather than the community, and entered into multiple loan agreements with the same physician or medical group.

Condell also paid its physician recruiters incentive bonuses and its financial support agreements prohibited doctors from obtaining admitting privileges at any other hospital, the settlement agreement states.

In addition, the settlement covers Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that Condell paid to doctors for performing services at the hospital without required written agreements.

The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda A. Wawzenski, deputy chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Division.

The following press release has been received from the U.S. Attorney’s Office concerning Lake County’s Condell Health Network and Medical Center.

A press release from Condell says,

“Condell’s integration plans with Advocate Health Care, the state’s largest health care system, are not impacted by the Settlement Agreement.”

Locally, Advocate owns and operates Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington.

The press release follows:

CHICAGO – Condell Health Network, parent corporation of Condell Medical Center, a 283-bed hospital in Libertyville – after voluntarily disclosing that it received improper Medicare and Medicaid payments – has agreed without litigation to pay the United States and the State of Illinois $36 million as a result of filing false claims for reimbursement, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Condell, the largest health care provider in Lake County, made the voluntary disclosure earlier this year while in the process of being acquired by Advocate Health Care, of Oak Brook, which was scheduled to be completed today.

The settlement involves three aspects of the relationship between Condell and its physicians from 2002 through 2007:

• leases of medical office space at rates below fair market value;
• improper loans to physicians; and
• hospital reimbursement to doctors who performed patient services without required written agreements.

By voluntarily disclosing these improper practices, Condell avoided a Government lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act and was able to negotiate a settlement at a discount.

The settlement agreement calls for Condell to pay the

• United States $33.12 million to resolve claims relating to Medicare patients and
• $2.88 million to the State of Illinois to settle claims relating to Medicaid patients.

The False Claims Act provides that parties who voluntarily disclose possible violations are liable for double damages, instead of triple damages, and civil penalties between $5,500 and $11,000 for each violation.

“We commend Condell for bringing these practices to our attention. We expect health care providers to come forward when they discover issues that could rise to the level of fraud without waiting for us to catch up to them, and when they do so, they may well benefit,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. He announced the settlement with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice Civil Division.

As part of the $36 million settlement, Condell does not admit liability and agreed to the settlement to avoid the delay, uncertainty and expense of protracted litigation.

According to the settlement agreement, Condell leased space in medical office buildings it owned to physicians in violation of federal laws and regulations governing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement because either the rental rates were below fair market value or Condell abated or deferred collection of rental payments.

Condell also gave loans to physicians and improperly allowed them to “work off” the debts at hourly rates that were greater than fair market value, as well as with activities that did not benefit the community.

Condell extended loans to doctors without assessing whether there was a particular community need for such arrangements or physicians, provided loans to doctors already in the hospital’s service area, gave loans that benefitted individual doctors or physician groups rather than the community, and entered into multiple loan agreements with the same physician or medical group.

Condell also paid its physician recruiters incentive bonuses and its financial support agreements prohibited doctors from obtaining admitting privileges at any other hospital, the settlement agreement states.

In addition, the settlement covers Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that Condell paid to doctors for performing services at the hospital without required written agreements.

The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda A. Wawzenski, deputy chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Division.

The Daily Herald’s Jameel Naqvi reports Wisconsin-based Mercy Health System has thrown in the towel in its current quest to put a hospital in Crystal Lake. Mercy still thinks Crystal Lake needs a hospital and wants to build one, but they’ll settle for a doctor’s office building and surgery center now.

A statement issues says “current Illinois law, which requires health care companies to obtain a Certificate of Need before undertaking large-scale expansion projects, ‘makes it difficult for anyone to build a new hospital anywhere in Illinois,’” the article says.

As I think I have mentioned previously, I introduced a bill to repeal the Certificate of Need law in 1993 when I re-entered the General Assembly after 12 years of remission.

Mercy does want to build a medical office building and surgery center in Crystal Lake, the article says.

Information about how Mercy’s efforts to build a hospital in Crystal Lake got entangled with shakedown artists many of whom ended up getting convicted of various federal crimes can be found here.

Since then, Advocate/Good Shepherd Hospital has opened an intermediate care facility across from the Pingree Road Metra Station (seen above) in which a Board Certified Emergency Care physician will staff from 8-8 each day.

The Daily Herald’s Jameel Naqvi reports Wisconsin-based Mercy Health System has thrown in the towel in its current quest to put a hospital in Crystal Lake. Mercy still thinks Crystal Lake needs a hospital and wants to build one, but they’ll settle for a doctor’s office building and surgery center now.

A statement issues says “current Illinois law, which requires health care companies to obtain a Certificate of Need before undertaking large-scale expansion projects, ‘makes it difficult for anyone to build a new hospital anywhere in Illinois,’” the article says.

As I think I have mentioned previously, I introduced a bill to repeal the Certificate of Need law in 1993 when I re-entered the General Assembly after 12 years of remission.

Mercy does want to build a medical office building and surgery center in Crystal Lake, the article says.

Information about how Mercy’s efforts to build a hospital in Crystal Lake got entangled with shakedown artists many of whom ended up getting convicted of various federal crimes can be found here.

Since then, Advocate/Good Shepherd Hospital has opened an intermediate care facility across from the Pingree Road Metra Station (seen above) in which a Board Certified Emergency Care physician will staff from 8-8 each day.

I knew it was too big a story for the Northwest Herald to ignore.

It’s the story about Advocate Good Shepherd’s financing a Dick Tracy-like wrist radio which will be used to find lost kids and adults prone to wandering.

At last Saturday’s announcement at Good Shepherd’s new Intermediate Care facility across from the Pingree Road Metra Station, the folks behind the new program were introduced.

The NW Herald’s Kurt Begalka interviews some of them for his Friday article.

He also plays off McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren’s press release.

The program will start January 1st. Logistics are being handled by Family Alliance.
Cost for the wrist radio is $246. A new batter costing $8 must be obtained each month.

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Thanks to Crystal Lake Heck of a Guy blogger Allan Showalter for the graphic and on point message. Showalter is campaigning for Dick Tracy for County Seal.

I knew it was too big a story for the Northwest Herald to ignore.

It’s the story about Advocate Good Shepherd’s financing a Dick Tracy-like wrist radio which will be used to find lost kids and adults prone to wandering.

At last Saturday’s announcement at Good Shepherd’s new Intermediate Care facility across from the Pingree Road Metra Station, the folks behind the new program were introduced.

The NW Herald’s Kurt Begalka interviews some of them for his Friday article.

He also plays off McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren’s press release.

The program will start January 1st. Logistics are being handled by Family Alliance.
Cost for the wrist radio is $246. A new batter costing $8 must be obtained each month.

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Thanks to Crystal Lake Heck of a Guy blogger Allan Showalter for the graphic and on point message. Showalter is campaigning for Dick Tracy for County Seal.