Save the Date: IHA Emergency Preparedness Exercise Nov. 4
Healthcare continues to be a top-targeted industry for cyber criminals, who are increasingly exploiting and manipulating artificial intelligence (AI) to create new risks to patient care, workforce stability, communications, cybersecurity, and healthcare operations. This year’s IHA Emergency Preparedness Exercise, “Broken Trust: AI Takes Control,” will simulate a sophisticated cyber incident that uses AI to amplify the attack.
Save the date for the Nov. 4 exercise, a live interactive webinar held statewide from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CT and designed for multidisciplinary hospital and health system teams. By participating, your organization’s team will be immersed in an evolving scenario designed to evaluate and strengthen organizational decision-making, cyber resilience, continuity strategies, communication pathways, and workforce stability.
Participation fees are based on licensed bed size: $320 for 0-99 beds, $800 for 100-399 beds, and $1,600 for 400 or more beds. In continuous recognition of the ongoing financial pressures facing hospitals statewide, IHA maintains these reduced rates. The Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network will sponsor fees for Illinois critical access hospitals. Registration for the annual exercise will open after Labor Day.
Staff contact: Keneatha Johnson
State Announces $1 Billion to Expand High-Speed Internet Across Illinois
Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) yesterday announced the State of Illinois has been approved to receive $1.04 billion in funding through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to support high-speed internet access statewide. The Governor’s press release said funding will connect approximately 350,000 residents through homes, businesses, and community institutions across Illinois by 2031. Between private investment, prior public funding, and new BEAD funding, the total broadband investment will exceed $2 billion.
When the program was initially launched in 2019, IHA successfully worked with the DCEO to incentivize grantee partnership with local healthcare providers seeking to expand telehealth programs. The continued investment in broadband will ensure greater access to care via telehealth, especially for patients in rural and underserved areas.
Staff contact: Lia Daniels
Two New Conditions Now Eligible for Treatment with Medical Cannabis
The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) announced yesterday two new conditions have been added to the list of debilitating medical issues that can qualify an Illinois resident for participation in the Medical Cannabis Patient Program. IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra approved the addition of polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) with chronic pain and sickle cell disease after a thorough review by the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board and IDPH staff.
The orders adding the two new conditions are effective immediately, and providers are now able to begin certifying patients with those conditions for treatment with medical cannabis. The two newly added conditions bring the total list to 58. You can find the current list of eligible conditions on IDPH’s Debilitating Conditions webpage.
First 2026 Human Case of West Nile Virus in Illinois Confirmed
The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) has confirmed the first human case of West Nile virus (WNV) in Illinois for 2026. The confirmed case involves a resident of Piatt County. In addition, IDPH has identified three other probable human cases of WNV from northern Illinois. About one in five people who contract the disease caused by a bite from an infected mosquito may develop common symptoms, including fever, headache, body aches, joint pain, or other potentially serious complications.
Spotlight on IHA Business Resources: IRMS Medical Malpractice TPA
Self-insured Illinois hospitals, health systems, and physicians can look to Illinois Risk Management Services (IRMS), an IHA affiliate organization, for medical professional liability third-party administration (TPA) services. Our team puts clients first and works diligently to reduce organizational exposure and potential losses. IRMS medical malpractice TPA has offered comprehensive claims and risk management services for over 40 years.
Claims services:
- Investigations—reviewing medical records, interviewing involved clinicians, retaining experts, analyzing relevant policies and procedures, and researching related medical issues;
- Evaluation and resolution—striving to fully resolve claims as early as possible, giving clients a realistic picture of the exposure presented; and
- Litigation management—actively managing lawsuits, reporting to reinsurers, administering loss runs, and maintaining constructive relationships with counsel, co-defendants, and insurers.
Risk management services:
- Consulting—with unlimited access to our team of experienced risk consultants;
- Education—programs on clinical and patient safety issues focus on high-risk departments and processes; and
- Assessments—hospital-wide risk reviews resulting in recommendations for new or modified policies, procedures, practices, rules, and/or regulations consistent with best risk management practices.
Learn more about our self-insured services and other insurance business lines.
Staff contact: Mike Haggerty
Illinois Respiratory Disease Surveillance Data
The Infectious Respiratory Disease Surveillance Dashboard from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) provides the latest data on hospital visits, seasonal trends, lab test positivity and demographic data. IDPH also tracks COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus information through the Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System dashboard.
Briefly Noted
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a blood test for detecting Alzheimer’s, according to Roche and Eli Lilly. The FDA cleared the single-biomarker blood test, Elecsys pTau217, that will help clinicians in identifying amyloid pathology associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The test provides positive, intermediate and negative result categories to support assessment of the likelihood of amyloid pathology, identifying those who should be considered for additional testing.
Leading the News
Blue Cross Blue Shield lowers payment for therapists, pediatricians under new ‘downcoding’ policy
WBEZ
As of July 1, Blue Cross Blue Shield changed the way it evaluates some medical claims that health professionals regularly submit, resulting in lower payment for the same service than in the past, according to mental health clinicians, doctors and advocates who spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ. Providers can appeal each decreased claim, but many say that’s too burdensome given the large volume of impacted claims. They worry the financial hit they are experiencing could lead to reduced patient access or even affect their ability to retain staff.
Successful systems won’t be ‘the ones with the best strategy’: 4 CEOs on closing the execution gap
Becker’s Hospital Review
Health systems face no shortage of strategy. What many are running low on is the capacity to execute it. That observation sits at the center of a conversation that Mandy Eaton, PhD, president and CEO of Springfield, Ill.-based Memorial Health, believes most health system leaders are not having openly enough.
5 revenue cycle AI wins, according to health system leaders
Becker’s Hospital Review
In a recent Becker’s roundup of 31 revenue cycle wins, several health system executives specifically credited AI initiatives, from clinical documentation review to automated billing, with helping cut A/R days, accelerate cash and reduce administrative friction. Here are five of those wins.
