Two years ago, Missouri state auditors blasted leaders of the University of Missouri Health System, citing millions of dollars lost to poor management and its handling of uninsured patients.

Next month, Cook County Board President John Stroger is set to nominate the man who led that agency -- Dr. Daniel Winship -- to head Cook County's public health system, covering various public hospitals and clinics.

Winship would take over the $277,000 a year job from longtime director Ruth Rothstein.

Winship's hiring hinges on hearings and a board vote.

Winship, who was head of Loyola University's medical school during most of the 1990s, ran the Missouri health system from September 1999 until January 2003.

Since resigning, he has been on a fellowship, studying medical training, and said Stroger recruited him for this job. He also said looking back, it probably wasn't wise to assume leadership at Missouri.

The system was $23 million in debt in 1999, and officials there expected enough revenues to make it profitable by 2003. While an influx of state cash helped the system break even, it wasn't profitable. Board dissatisfaction and a scathing audit preceded Winship's resignation.

"Had I not been winding down my position at Loyola, I probably would never have gone," he said. "It was a challenge. They were in big trouble and getting worse."

He said he led the system through that trouble, allowing its current private management firm to make it "quasi-profitable."

"We bottomed out in a terrible situation during the audit," he said, adding "we were working very hard" to address problems.

He hired a $1.3 million consulting agency, which helped him determine "there was too much fat in the system" and "there was a huge hue and cry," when he initiated cuts, though "we had a good plan."

But auditors said from July 1999 to January 2002, the system lost almost $10 million "due to insurance denials and other write-offs that could have been prevented." The system also was cited for not handling "all charity care cases in a consistent matter."

Stroger spokeswoman Caryn Stancik said Stroger knows of the audit, but said Winship has "great government experience" and "a national reputation for being a terrific health care administrator."

Winship said many problems in Missouri stemmed from a lack of state support, as well as computer problems, both of which were being remedied.

He said he "had a fair number of naysayers at Missouri . . . plenty of them attacked me and what I did."

But he's happy to be considered for the Cook County job, saying the system has thrived under Rothstein's leadership.

"I had a fair number of naysayers at Missouri . . . plenty of them attacked me and what I did." Daniel winship Led University of Missouri Health System

Chicago Sun-Times

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2004