U. of C. Medical Center has pulled back its proposal to build a new ER

SHARE U. of C. Medical Center has pulled back its proposal to build a new ER

The University of Chicago Medical Center has pulled its request to expand their adult emergency room, officials announced Friday.

The University of Chicago Medical Center had said last month that it was seeking permission to relocate and expand its emergency department on its Hyde Park campus at a cost of $36 million.

U. of C. wanted to relocate its emergency department from Mitchell Hospital to the Center for Care and Discovery and increase the number of treatment stations, from 36 to 42, according to documents submitted on Dec. 11 to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board.

Despite noting that its emergency department had lost $23 million last year, U. of C. had said that the goal of the move was to be able to treat more adult emergency patients with shorter waiting time.

The board was supposed to review the request in March.

But there was controversy over the new adult ER not being a Level 1 trauma center, as protesters have repeatedly been calling for.  U. of C. Medical Center was commended, though, for its announced proposal to increase the age permitted in its pediatric emergency room, Comer Children’s Hospital, to include 16- and 17-year-olds. Comer is a Level 1 pediatric trauma center that currently treats patients up to age 15.

In a statement released Friday, the U. of C. said, “We recognize adult emergency services as a great need for the community and an important aspect of our broader campus plan. As a result, we have decided to pull the Certificate of Need (CON) application filed in December to relocate and expand our adult Emergency Department until [a thorough study of services, capacity, and community need related to present and future clinical capacity] study is complete.”

A U. of C. spokeswoman declined to say anything further about the announcement, and U. of C.’s president could not be reached.

In other news, it was announced that Cristal Thomas, former deputy governor under Gov. Quinn, would be heading to U. of C. Medicine as vice president for community health engagement and senior adviser to the vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago.  In her job, she will foster relationships between the university, the medical campus and South Side residents, according to a separate release from the medical center.

Thomas said she was not aware of the medical center’s decision to withdraw its proposal, and that her new position was not related to that.

“I’m really excited to be joining U. of C. Medicine and to be able to continue working on the health policies and improving health outcomes for communities and for populations, the work that I’ve been doing in the governor’s office, you know, kind of extending that now on to the private sector provider side,”  she said.


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