Pact with tainted firm up for county review

On the same day that Cook County governmental agencies were on the verge of a shutdown over finances, county administrators advanced a proposal to hire a company involved in a controversial Las Vegas hospital contract that resulted in the indictment of a hospital administrator.

But the impending passage Friday night of a measure that would turn Cook County's health care system over to an independent governing board threw the contract's approval in doubt.

Health bureau chief Robert Simon put on next week's agenda a contract to hire ACS Consultants to collect revenue for the county's health system.

The company was hired by the University Medical Center in Las Vegas with a similar collection contract between May 2005 and January 2007.

The medical center's former chief, Lacy Thomas, was indicted on theft charges Feb. 20 connected to the contract. Before going to Las Vegas, he ran Cook County's public hospital.

The indictment alleged ACS was run by Thomas' friends and that it was being paid to duplicate services medical center employees were already doing, ultimately costing the system millions.

Thomas denies any wrongdoing and a lawyer for ACS told the Las Vegas Review-Journal it was absurd to allege criminal wrongdoing for what simply may have been a bad business deal.

Asked why Cook County would hire ACS, county spokeswoman Ibis Antongiorgi had no immediate answer.

Part of the reason this year's tax hikes were needed, county administrators argued, was they needed to hire 110 people to recoup uncollected bills at county hospitals and clinics.

It was unclear Friday why new collection procedures were necessary. Simon was unavailable Friday night.

The contract would allow ACS to keep 30 percent of the money it collects in patient bills at the hospital, up to a total bill collection level of $24 million annually.

After that amount, the collection rate would drop to 17 percent in 2008, 16 percent in 2009 and 15 percent in 2010.