An Illinois House Committee has endorsed a revised hospital assessment program, which will distribute billions of dollars in Medicaid funding. In a vote of 14-0, the House Appropriations-Human Services Committee decided in favor of the revised formula. The formula accounts for federal requirements that more Medicaid patients be covered by cost-saving managed care operations. The chairman of the committee is Chicago Democratic Representative Greg Harris. He responded to the hospitals’ concerns about managed care reimbursements, by adding increased oversight on the privately-run organizations. Ann Igoe is the vice president of the hospitals and health systems for SEIU Healthcare Union and she says that the updated legislation will give additional funds to the state’s neediest hospital. There are two hospitals in the South Side of Chicago that are about to close, under the modernized assessment. The committee says that they are currently working to prevent their closure.