Some DuPage County Board members seem to be rethinking their decision to eliminate property-tax funding for the county-operated nursing home in Wheaton.
There is some recognition on the board, said board member Roger Kotecki (R-Glen Ellyn), that attempting to squeeze further cost savings at the DuPage Convalescent Center could threaten the quality of care there.
Nevertheless, on the table Monday was a staff proposal to pay roughly $100,000 to the management consulting firm of Deloitte & Touche for an analysis of costs and revenues at the center.
Donald Zeilenga, county administrator, said the study was needed “to get a handle” on some of the budget problems facing the 508-bed facility.
But comments from board members during and after several committee meetings Monday suggest that they may have more fundamental concerns than simply questioning the need for another consultants’ report.
Some board members appear to be growing uncomfortable with the notion that the Convalescent Center, which was set up to serve the indigent poor, should be run with the same efficiencies as a private business.
Board member Linda Kurzawa (R-Winfield), who chairs the board’s Health and Human Services Committee, said that significant changes in Convalescent Center policies may have to be made if the facility is to be operated without a so-called property tax subsidy. That could mean, she said, putting a priority on filling beds or competing with the private nursing homes in DuPage.
For about three-fourths of the residents, the cost of their care is funded by the state Medicaid program. About 18 percent are covered by private insurance companies. The occupancy rate averages around 94 percent.
The annual cost of operating the center generally has exceeded the income it receives from Medicaid, insurance-company reimbursements and other fees. The center’s budget traditionally had been augmented with funding from the county’s share of local property taxes–a subsidy that has ranged from $2 million to $3.8 million annually from 1987 through 1996.
A major goal of County Board Chairman Gayle Franzen has been to eliminate the subsidy. Franzen once entertained the notion of privatizing the facility but instead has opted to encourage administrators to adopt cost-saving measures so that the Convalescent Center becomes financially self-supporting.
But one of the cost-saving measures, an attempt to privatize the preparation and delivery of meals at the center, ended abruptly when the company pulled out in the face of its concerns about costs and complaints from residents about food quality.
County officials estimate that the operating expenses at the Convalescent Center will exceed revenues by $1.3 million to $2 million this year, and there also are concerns about the impact of a new Medicare payment plan due to be implemented July 1 by the federal government.
Zeilenga said that Deloitte & Touche essentially proposed to do a thorough analysis of the Convalescent Center finances in an attempt to detail what operations are costing more money than they generate and what might be done to increase revenues. The firm also would look at comparable services and expenses at similar nursing homes.
“We’re not looking for Deloitte & Touche in this study to make policy decisions,” Zeilenga said.
But some board members fear that the consultants’ report will do just that by focusing too narrowly on costs without considering whether subsidized nursing home care is a service county government ought to provide to the elderly indigent.
“We are a service industry,” said board member Robert Schroeder (R-Naperville), a Health and Human Services Committee member. “We’re not a profit industry. We’re not looking for a profit. That’s not our goal. Our goal should be to serve the most needy.”
The proposed contract with Deloitte & Touche had won tentative approval from the board’s Finance Committee, but members of the Health and Human Services Committee decided later to postpone action for two weeks to allow for additional discussions among board members and staff.
“We don’t want staff to be getting ahead of the committee,” Kurzawa said. “I’m getting rumblings from board members.”
