TOMORROW: H.R. 1 Implementation Updates in IHA Webinar with HFS
Medicaid eligibility changes in H.R. 1 are expected to cause over 9,000 immigrants and 700,000 Illinois adults ages 19-64, without a dependent child under age 18, to lose their health coverage. A complimentary IHA webinar tomorrow, Oct. 6, will walk you through key provisions of the new federal law.
Make sure your team is part of this important conversation: The 1-2 p.m. CT webinar is offered exclusively for IHA members and will spotlight implementation updates impacting hospitals and health systems. Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services’ (HFS) Special Assistant for Eligibility Initiatives, Carrie Chapman, JD, will lead the webinar. Participants will have an opportunity to ask Chapman questions during the session.
The webinar is designed for hospital and health system CEOs, CFOs, CNOs, Government Relations leaders, Patient Financial Services and Revenue Cycle staff, and other leaders involved in Medicaid operations or H.R. 1 implementation. There is no fee to attend. The webinar will be recorded and made available to all registrants following the program. Register today.
Staff contacts: Jordan Powell, Jennifer Koehler
Upcoming Changes – Medicaid ABE Manage My Case Portal
The Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) has announced upcoming changes to the Medicaid Application for Benefits Eligibility (ABE) Manage My Case (MMC) Portal. Beginning Oct. 30, 2026, only one ABE MMC account will be allowed per household for Medicaid beneficiaries. The head of household who receives case notices will be the only person who can create the account. If more than one ABE MMC account is currently linked to a customer case, HFS will keep the account with the most recent login activity. All other accounts will be unlinked and disabled. For more information on these changes, click here.
IHA Leadership Summit: ‘The Choice Ahead’ Leaders Panel
Moving toward a future vision “starts with one person doing one thing—that’s how change happens,” said Scott Anthony, a global innovation expert, in IHA Leadership Summit’s keynote session on disruption Thursday. Leaders at Illinois hospitals and health systems are doing just that in the face of unprecedented policy changes and accelerating technology.
Friday’s “The Choice Ahead: Own Your Future or Be Disrupted by It – So Now What?” session gave four leaders from diverse hospitals and health systems a chance to weigh in on how they’re responding to pressing concerns. The leaders panel featured:
- Thomas Jackiewicz, President, University of Chicago Health System
- José R. Sánchez, President and CEO, Humboldt Park Health
- Deborah Graves, President and CEO, BJC Memorial Hospital Shiloh
- Kevin Zachary, Chief Executive Officer, JCH HealthCare
Owning the future without being disrupted by others requires bold choices. Continuing to lead in today’s environment, while sustaining urgency and rallying your teams is something Jackiewicz thinks about daily, noting the physician shortage keeps him up at night.
“The pressures we’re feeling are not going to go away,” he said. “The first thing is to be really honest that this is not a short-term issue. This is really about change management. Can we evolve our organization fast enough to keep pace with the changes we’re going to feel? One of our biggest weaknesses is we don’t like change and we don’t like fast change.”
Sánchez likened how he faces ambiguity with his experience immigrating from Puerto Rico. While difficult, he said he “had a sense of optimism at that time,” which is how he approaches today’s challenges.
“We’ve been challenged with situations that we didn’t know how we were going to respond,” Sánchez said, referencing events from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. “I approach this without fear….We collectively as healthcare leaders have to find ways to find solutions to the challenges in front of us.”
In talking to board members, healthcare professionals and the broader community, Graves echoed Sánchez’s comments: “Fear is not a place from which we come to be successful. We can’t allow all this uncomfortableness that comes from ambiguity, things that we feel are an impediment, to keep us from being agile.”
“As leaders, we need to facilitate these strategic conversations. We cannot stay in survival mode for the next few years,” Graves said, highlighting the importance of decreasing angst about change among healthcare professionals by highlighting the its benefits and ensuring a supportive environment.
With hospital finances a persistent concern, Zachary said “there’s no silver bullet” to prepare for reimbursement cuts in government insurance programs, as JCH HealthCare’s patient population is largely covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Faced with reducing expenses by 8% immediately, Zachary led the “spark initiative,” which consisted of three multidisciplinary teams meeting three times a week to identity ways to reduce expenses “without reducing quality and customer service.”
“When I started (last year), cash was thin and it only got thinner,” he said. “I made the decision to outsource our revenue cycle model. It was a difficult decision….In September, we were cash flow positive for first time in recent history.”
Damond Boatwright, President and CEO, Hospital Sisters Health System and 2026 Chair of the IHA Board of Trustees moderated the session. See IHA’s Summit recap on our social media channels X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
HHS Issues Guidance on Using SUD Records to Verify Community Engagement Exemption
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights released new guidance on statutory and regulatory requirements under 42 CFR Part 2, which protect the confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) patient records. The notice clarifies that state Medicaid agencies can use Part 2 records to verify whether a Medicaid applicant or beneficiary meets the definition of a “specified excluded individual,” who would be exempt from Medicaid community engagement requirements outlined by the July 2025 budget reconciliation law.
The notice includes examples of circumstances where the use of Part 2 records for verification would be permitted. The examples emphasize that a beneficiary’s written consent is required to verify an exemption with Part 2 records, even when the state Medicaid agency already has access to the records. However, beginning in Feb. 2026, covered entities were permitted to obtain a one-time written consent authorizing all future uses and disclosures of Part 2 records, eliminating the need to obtain separate consents for each subsequent disclosure.
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 final evaluation report for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) Model released last week shows the model generated $180 million in Medicare savings while preserving care quality for lower extremity joint replacements. The CJR’s evaluation results demonstrate that episode-based payment models can simultaneously lower costs and sustain quality. The Innovation Center has already announced the nationwide expansion of the CJR Model and will launch the mandatory CJR Expanded (CJR-X) Model in 2028 to expand proven savings and improve the recovery experience for joint replacements for people with Medicare across the country.
Leading the News
What HSHS did to reverse $100M annual loss in under 2 years
Becker’s Hospital Review
When Kathy Donovan joined Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System as senior vice president and chief operating officer in 2023, the system was losing more than $100 million a year. Spread across Illinois and Wisconsin, HSHS hospitals were operating with separate agendas and in some markets, competing against each other for the same patients.
13 Joint Commission moves in 2026
Becker’s Hospital Review
So far in 2026, The Joint Commission has announced a CEO transition plan, launched two outcomes-driven certifications and condensed serious safety event lists.
Former Illinois House GOP leader Jim Durkin endorses Democrat JB Pritzker over Republican Darren Bailey
Chicago Tribune
Accentuating the schisms that have helped make Republicans the superminority political party in Illinois, former Illinois House GOP leader Jim Durkin said he is endorsing Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker for a third term over Republican nominee Darren Bailey in the Nov. 3 general election.
