Cook County Ambulatory & Community Health Network
DIRECTORY OF CLINICS
Sandra Ankebrant, Chief Operating Officer
The Cook County Ambulatory and Community
Health Network (ACHN) was inaugurated in 1994 to provide out-patient community
health services to the most medically underserved residents of Cook County.
The mission of the Network is to assure that an appropriate set of outpatient
and community health services are effectively delivered to the patients
of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, with particular emphasis
on developing comprehensive, community-oriented primary care in the communities
in which those patients reside and providing effective links to needed
specialty and diagnostic services.
With over 1 million ambulatory visits
per year, ambulatory care has always been a major component of the Bureau's
integrated system of services. Currently, most ambulatory visits are provided
in hospital settings, particularly at Cook County Hospital. The entry point
into specialty and inpatient care is usually the emergency room or the
walk-in clinic.
The Ambulatory and Community Health
Network is in the process of changing this by offering an entry point that
is a comprehensive primary care health center in the community where the
patient resides. Several of these facilities already exist. Patients are
seen for primary care at these sites and are referred by their primary
care physician to specialty or inpatient care at one of the Bureau's hospitals.
Community-based primary care and prevention services
The Bureau operates 28 community-based
sites where primary or preventive services are delivered. Ten of these
sites are comprehensive primary care health centers providing both primary
and prevention services. Four of these are located in suburban Cook County
and the other six in Chicago. These ten sites provide approximately 100,000
visits per year.
The other five sites, operated by
the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) in suburban Cook County,
provide traditional public health prevention services such as screening
and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, prenatal
care, immunizations and other clinical preventive services. The CCDPH also
provides such services at smaller sites throughout suburban Cook County.
Altogether, the CCDPH sites provide approximately 90,000 visits per year.
Hospital-based ambulatory services
Cook County, Oak Forest and Provident Hospitals operate outpatient departments. Fantus Clinic, Cook County Hospital's outpatient clinic, is comprised of 100 clinics and provides over 375,000
visits per year. The Ambulatory Screening Clinic provides an additional
81,000 visits per year. In addition to providing primary care through its
walk-in, General Medicine, Family Practice and Pediatrics Comprehensive
Care clinics, Fantus Clinic is also the main specialty hub for the Bureau's
health care system.
Provident and Oak Forest Hospitals'
outpatient departments provide approximately 15,000 visits per year. In
addition, each of the Bureau's hospitals operates an emergency room where
there are over 175,000 encounters per year. The After Hours Care Center
at Oak Forest Hospital serves the south suburban area with non-urgent care
during workday evenings and on weekends.
Training of future health care providers
The Bureau supports multiple clinical
training programs at Cook County and Oak Forest Hospitals. On any given
day, over 500 residents are based at Cook County Hospital. Although community-based
training sites have been established by the Departments of Family Practice
(at the Jorge Prieto Health Center and the Englewood Family Practice Clinic),
Medicine (at the Erie Family and Winfield-Moody Health Centers), and Pediatrics
(at the New City Health Center and PATH clinic in Austin), the bulk of
the training of residents continues to be focused on inpatient and hospital
skills and the majority of the ambulatory training is provided at Fantus
Health Center at Cook County Hospital. Medical, physician assistant, dietary,
respiratory therapy, and orthopedic technician students receive training
at Cook County Hospital. In the near future, economic and resident training
directives will mandate the expansion of primary care provider training
programs and increased time for all trainees in ambulatory, particularly
in community-based settings. The ACHN sites are expected to play a major
role in this training.
Referral relationships with local providers
To enhance access to community-based
primary care, Cook County Hospital established the Neighborhood Referral
Program in 1986. The program has since been expanded to other Bureau institutions.
The program operates by referring patients in need of a primary care provider
from Cook County or Provident Hospital to a Bureau or unaffiliated not-for-profit
community health center. In addition, patients from these community-based
sites can be referred to Cook County or Provident Hospital for specialty
care. Currently, 17 community health centers are a part of the program
and approximately 900 referrals are made per month.
Read the latest CCBHS Grants Newsletter
Send comments to ord@cchil.org
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