Full Text of SR0570 93rd General Assembly
SR0570 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The Health Facilities Planning Board (the Board) | 3 |
| was created by the passage of the Illinois Health Facilities | 4 |
| Planning Act (the Act), which was originally approved and | 5 |
| became effective on August 27, 1974; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, The Act has as its stated purposes: (1) "to | 7 |
| establish a procedure to reverse the trends of increasing costs | 8 |
| of health care resulting from unnecessary construction or | 9 |
| modification of health care facilities"; and (2) to establish a | 10 |
| procedure for the "orderly and economic development of health | 11 |
| care facilities"; and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, The Governor appointed 9 new members and a new | 13 |
| Executive Secretary of the Board; and | 14 |
| WHEREAS, Mercy Crystal Lake Hospital and Medical Center | 15 |
| filed an application on or about July 8, 2003 seeking a | 16 |
| Certificate of Need to construct a 70-bed hospital in Crystal | 17 |
| Lake, Illinois; and | 18 |
| WHEREAS, Questions have been raised as to whether that | 19 |
| application complied with the Board's rules; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, A public hearing was held to allow the public to | 21 |
| comment on the application, and the comments were | 22 |
| overwhelmingly negative; and | 23 |
| WHEREAS, Six hospitals objected at the public hearing and | 24 |
| provided extensive testimony and documentation to the effect | 25 |
| that: | 26 |
| (a) The project is not cost effective and is counter to | 27 |
| the cost
containment purpose of the Act; | 28 |
| (b) The project does not improve access to necessary | 29 |
| health care; |
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| (c) The project does not improve the quality of | 2 |
| available health
care; | 3 |
| (d) The project represents unnecessary duplication of | 4 |
| health care
services; and | 5 |
| (e) The application does not comply with the rules of | 6 |
| the Board; and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, Two of the objecting hospitals, located in McHenry | 8 |
| County, provide substantial community services, including | 9 |
| behavioral health services and rehabilitation services, as | 10 |
| well as support for local clinics that provide care to the | 11 |
| uninsured; and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, According to studies prepared by financial | 13 |
| experts, the construction of the hospital as proposed by Mercy, | 14 |
| will, to the detriment of overall community health, | 15 |
| substantially undermine the financial ability of these | 16 |
| hospitals to continue providing these services; and | 17 |
| WHEREAS, The Board's staff prepared a report analyzing the | 18 |
| application's compliance with the Board's rules and found that | 19 |
| it did not comply with 9 of 13 major rules; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, The application was first considered by the Board | 21 |
| at its meeting held on December 17, 2003, and the comments of | 22 |
| the Board members were openly negative prompting a vote of 8 to | 23 |
| zero to deny the application; and | 24 |
| WHEREAS, The applicant subsequently submitted additional | 25 |
| material to the Board that argued that the Board's rules were | 26 |
| outdated; and | 27 |
| WHEREAS, The Board again considered the application on | 28 |
| April 21, 2004, and, despite a negative staff report, the Board | 29 |
| voted to approve the Certificate of Need for Mercy Crystal Lake | 30 |
| Hospital and Medical Center; and |
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| WHEREAS, The record is devoid of any testimony to refute | 2 |
| the Board's own staff report or the extensive oral and written | 3 |
| testimony submitted by objectors; and | 4 |
| WHEREAS, The Board has failed to reasonably explain the | 5 |
| reason for its reversal on this matter; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, According to physician manpower studies prepared | 7 |
| by experts in the field, the hospitals located within 30 | 8 |
| minutes of the site all recruit physicians to try to keep pace | 9 |
| with a rapidly expanding population; and | 10 |
| WHEREAS, Our society is one of laws, and the General | 11 |
| Assembly created the Board and approved its rules to fulfill | 12 |
| the intended objectives of the Act and provide predictability | 13 |
| to the health care community; and | 14 |
| WHEREAS, The actions by the Board contravene its own rules | 15 |
| and appear contrary to the intent of the General Assembly; and | 16 |
| WHEREAS, Section 3-4 of the Illinois State Auditing Act, | 17 |
| which implements subsection(b) of Section 3 of Article VIII of | 18 |
| the Illinois Constitution, provides that the Auditor General | 19 |
| shall make such investigations as are directed by either house | 20 |
| of the General Assembly in a resolution specifying the acts, | 21 |
| transactions, or practices to be the subject of the | 22 |
| investigation; therefore be it | 23 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL | 24 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Auditor General is | 25 |
| directed to conduct an investigation to examine the Illinois | 26 |
| Health Facility Planning Board's approval of a Certificate of | 27 |
| Need for Mercy Crystal Lake Hospital and Medical Center and to | 28 |
| investigate the way the Board makes determinations concerning | 29 |
| Certificates of Need in general; and be it further |
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| RESOLVED, That on or before January 1, 2005, the Auditor | 2 |
| General shall submit a report of his or her findings and | 3 |
| recommendations to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the | 4 |
| Legislative Audit Commission and shall make copies of the | 5 |
| report available to the public upon request; and be it further | 6 |
| RESOLVED, That we urge the Attorney General to conduct an | 7 |
| investigation to examine the propriety of the Illinois Health | 8 |
| Facility Planning Board's approval of a Certificate of Need for | 9 |
| Mercy Crystal Lake Hospital and Medical Center and to | 10 |
| investigate the way that the Board makes determinations | 11 |
| concerning Certificates of Need in general; and be it further | 12 |
| RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be delivered to | 13 |
| the Auditor General, the Attorney General, the Governor, the | 14 |
| Legislative Audit Commission, and the Illinois Health | 15 |
| Facilities Planning Board.
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