Dr. Sameer Vohra said IDPH and Gov. JB Pritzker plan to respond to lessons learned during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency is proposing a $45 million investment to modernize the state's public health data systems, $3 million to create a loan repayment and scholarship program to grow a diverse health care workforce, and $7 million to enhance public health communication. Senate Bill 209 would appropriate $27.5 million for the IDPH AIDS and HIV division to offer education, drugs, services, counseling, and testing.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.