The Cook County Health and Hospital System Board of Directors is expected tomorrow to vote to accept a $30,000 boost to the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer program, a free service that diagnoses and helps treat uninsured women.

The program is threatened by state budget cuts, but the Cook County Department of Public Health is offering the grant increase in addition to the $535,000 the health system already receives.

Also on Wednesday, the board is expected to vote on a measure increasing the power of CEO William Foley, further distancing itself from the Cook County Board of Commissioners

The resolution would allow for the CEO to negotiate and execute all non-procurement contracts for the system. That includes contractual agreements between the health system and other hospitals, partnerships with the Cook County Department of Public Health and outside entities.

The system previously adopted a procurement policy that required the CEO to sign off on all purchases of $100,000 or more, and other contracts of $25,000 or more.

The health system board has taken a number of steps in recent months to assert its independence, including establishing its own purchasing and human resources departments.

The board will also vote on a contract that would lease one hospice bed at Provident Hospital to a hospice corporation called Vitas Healthcare. The deal would net the health system more than $125,000 a year.