The report questioned how leadership of the Cook County Health Foundation spent nearly $80,000, entered into contracts and hired outside counsel.
Then-Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha speaks during a meeting with Cook County officials to discuss a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan on Dec. 14, 2020. Long-held plans to expand the power of the nonprofit entity established to raise money for Cook County’s public health arm have been scrapped “amid questions about its scope and appropriateness,” according to an outside report obtained by the Tribune.
In addition, Zaldivar said she remained committed to the idea of the master services agreement and added that she thinks it would benefit both the foundation and CCH, which includes Stroger Hospital and other facilities across Cook County that supply health care for patients regardless of their ability to pay.
It recommended a series of changes to “prevent such serious failures to comply with sound corporate governance practices in the future.” The master services deal contemplated an “exponential expansion” of the foundation’s role, according to the report. That would have required new staff; accounting and financial expertise; and because of potential government partnership, legal oversight to ensure compliance with local and federal laws governing hiring, financial disclosures and public access to its records.
“I know that the board is also very interested in having Israel make a presentation to the board about how he views the relationship and also to provide an example or case study so that they can get a good grasp on how this would work project by project, day by day,” Zaldivar wrote in an email to CCH leadership. “Unfortunately, there are a couple of voices on the board that have been vociferous and have created some fear on the part of other board members that this agreement is adversarial.
When Riley Safer began reviewing documents and interviewing officials involved in the potential expansion, Rocha “declined our request for an interview” to discuss the purpose and intent of the agreement, according to the report, and the health system “abandoned” the idea, according to the report. Before abandoning the services agreement plan, the foundation retained both Atlanta-based Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and the law offices of Marc J. Lane for help on negotiations, paying $51,700 and $27,800 to them respectively, according to the report.
The report also said payments were made to the Lane firm without a board vote, and that Lane had not demonstrated what work it had done. “Lane’s invoices contained wholly inadequate descriptions of services provided by that firm,” the report said.
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