HYDE PARK — State regulators on Tuesday unanimously approved the University of Chicago’s $270 million proposal to add a trauma center and more cancer care.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted on Tuesday at its meeting in Normal, Ill., to accept the medical center’s plan amidst a chorus of supporters the university bussed down for the meeting.
“The board’s vote today will have a significant impact on our community,” said Sharon O’Keefe, president of the University of Chicago Medical Center, in a prepared statement. “Our community needs and deserves equal access to quality health care, and we are now one giant step closer to being able to offer that access at University of Chicago Medicine.”
The medical center will still need to get the approval of the Region XI EMS System, the group of emergency medicine directors at other emergency rooms and trauma centers charged with figuring out how the university’s trauma center would fit into the existing system and when paramedics would be instructed to take patients there.
Public testimony for a #TraumaCenterNow from @KOCOmmunity, @UChurchChi, @VeronicaBars_ from @StopChicago and JCUA pic.twitter.com/kcJ8dyP3pm
— JCUA Chicago (@JCUA_News) May 10, 2016
Going into Tuesday’s vote, staff from the Illinois Department of Public Health had questioned whether the university was expanding too quickly and suggested the proposal outpaced the need.
O’Keefe said before she came down for the meeting, she checked the occupancy in the university’s emergency room for Thursday and it was again full.
She said, according to prepared remarks provided by the university, that 24 patients were waiting in the emergency room for beds to open in the hospital and seven other hospitals were waiting to transfer patients. She said on that day, the university needed an extra 72 beds and had none available, which is becoming increasingly common.
Pics from today's public testimony in support of @uchicagomed's #getcare plan. Grateful for strong voices. pic.twitter.com/jEqIcznQip
— UChicago Medicine (@UChicagoMed) May 10, 2016
Part of the medical center’s proposal includes adding 168 patient beds to accommodate the 2,700 new patients expected to come to the hospital for treatment for traumatic injuries and expanded cancer care, which the medical center is expecting will offset the $20 million annual cost of running a trauma center.
The state had questioned this expansion of beds, noting in the staff report that 557 beds are sitting empty at other South Side hospitals much of the time.
Visual aids. The takeaway: we're *really* full. #GetCare pic.twitter.com/SHEEqLYpCD
— UChicago Medicine (@UChicagoMed) May 10, 2016
The university brought with them many of their own experts and supporters from other hospitals and the community to convince the board that the trauma center proposal could not move forward without the added hospital beds.
In the end, the board was convinced by the university’s presentation and supportive testimony.
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