Roughly $90 million will be awarded to eight innovative partnerships as part of the state’s first allocation of healthcare transformation funds, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday.
“These funds allow some of our most distressed communities to decide exactly what they need – and how to get there – when it comes to whole health,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Healthcare is a right for all people, and I’m proud that these partnerships will take us one step closer to truly honoring that right as a state.”
Organizations targeted in the first round include those from Chicago’s south and west sides, the Metro East region and southern Illinois. The initiatives and participating entities include:
$1.8 million for the Chicago North Side Collaborative
Swedish Hospital
Erie Family Health Centers
Heartland Health Centers
Hamdard Healthcare
Asian Human Services Family Health Center
Howard Brown Health
Medical Express Ambulance Service, Inc. d/b/a MedEX Ambulance Service
$2.9 million for the Collaborative Bridges
Community Counseling Centers of Chicago
Habilitative Services, Inc.
Humboldt Park Health
Hartgrove Hospital (UHS)
The Loretto Hospital
$22.3 million for the East St. Louis Health Transformation Partnership
Touchette Regional Hospital
SIHF Healthcare
SIU School of Medicine
Hoyleton Youth and Family Services
Centene
Memorial Medical Group
ConferMed Weitzman Institute
Washington University
Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center
Zade, Inc
$2.9 million for the Integrated Hub
Egyptian Health Department
Eldorado Rural Health Clinic
Gallatin County Wellness Center
Harrisburg Medical Center
Ferrell Hospital
Southern Illinois Healthcare
Fairfield Memorial Hospital
SIU Multicultural Center
$6.2 million for the Prison Emergency Early Release Response Network
Safer Foundation
Heartland Alliance Health
Cook County Health
Healthcare Alternative Systems, Inc. (HAS)
KAM Alliance
Transforming Reentry Services/MWPM
Get To Work Illinois
Smart Policy Works
Legal Council for Health Justice
$26 million for the South Side Healthy Community Organization
St. Bernard Hospital
Advocate Aurora Healthcare
Beloved Community Family Wellness Center
Chicago Family Health Center
Christian Community Health Center
Friend Family Health
Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center
Near North Health
Roseland Hospital
St. Bernard Hospital
Sinai Chicago
South Shore Hospital Corporation
TCA Health
The University of Chicago Health System
$14.2 million for TARGET Health
UI Health Physician Group (UIPG)
Mile Square Health Center
Alivio Medical Center Primary
University of Illinois College of Applied Sciences Departments of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Nutrition
$17.2 million for the West Side Health Equity Collaborative
Access Community Health Network
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center, Inc
Cook County Health
Habilitative Systems, Inc
Humboldt Park Health
The Loretto Hospital
Medical Home Network
Rush University Medical Center
Sinai Chicago
West Side United
“The collaboratives receiving funding in this first round demonstrated real, innovative visions and presented solutions that also address social determinants of health which heavily impact health outcomes,” said HFS Director Theresa Eagleson. “The best part is, we’re just getting started. We are continuing to evaluate submissions from this spring and are looking forward to receiving more applications for the next awards cycle.”
Officials said they prioritized collaborations that included safety-net hospitals and critical access hospitals, as well as those that included minority and women-owned business participation and community-based organizations majorly governed and managed by minorities.
Projects that improve specialty care or develop the workforce in underserved communities were also prioritized, as were those focused on communities high on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social vulnerability index.
Two other initiatives, the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative and the New Roseland Hospital Transformation Proposal, have been advanced for “further consideration and potential funding.”
The administration expects to announce an additional round of awards in the fall.
The transformation initiative is part of a plan signed into law by Pritzker this spring to allocate $150 million annually for healthcare transformation through fiscal year 2027.
“Transformation will help hospitals and community organizations partner to eliminate health disparities across Illinois,” said House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago. “We can use these new models to help us reimagine healthcare delivery for currently underserved populations.”