April 26--The University of Chicago wants to add 188 beds at its South Side hospital campus to reduce crowding and meet future demand. But a state report issued Tuesday found that the academic medical center doesn't need so many new beds.
The report throws some uncertainty into a $269 million project that has received widespread community and political support. As part of the expansion, the U. of C. proposes to open an adult trauma center, high-level emergency care that South Side residents have wanted for years.
The university would like to increase the number of medical beds by 168 and the number of intensive-care beds by 20. The total number of beds on the campus would rise to 805 from 617. The added beds would be used for lucrative cardiac, cancer and orthopedic services, helping offset the high costs of trauma care.
Before it can break ground, the U. of C. has to receive approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, which oversees health care construction to coordinate planning of new services and control costs.
A review of the project by the board's staff found that the U. of C. met most of the standards for regulatory approval. But the staff disagreed with the hospital in a couple of key areas.
Historical usage justifies 343 medical beds, not the 506 the medical center wants, and 141 intensive-care beds, not the 146 requested, according to the report.
In addition, the staff of the hospital board found that the medical center doesn't need 41 emergency stations it requested. Indeed, the staff's analysis found that the 36 emergency stations the hospital has now are eight too many.
In a statement, the U. of C. Medical Center said it anticipated the critical findings in the report. It said some of the standards are "impossible" to meet because the medical center is planning for the future while the hospital board is examining historical patterns.
The medical center said current usage rates warrant the proposed expansion. It said it had an occupancy rate of more than 90 percent last year, among the highest in the state. The U. of C. said occupancy has grown since 2009 because of more transfers from other hospitals, including some in northwest Indiana; increasing demand from an aging and heavily minority population on the South Side; and more people with insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
The university also projects demand to grow 6.5 percent annually from 2018 through 2021. As an academic medical center, the U. of C. offers more complex medical care, such as transplants and open-heart surgery, than community hospitals.
It also has experienced 6.5 percent annual growth in emergency room visits over the past six years and expects that trend to continue. The medical center said the ER expansion will reduce wait times.
The staff of the state hospital board doesn't recommend whether projects should be approved or denied. And negative findings by the staff don't preclude the nine-member board from approving projects. The board is expected to vote on the project May 10.
The community's desire for a trauma center has added a new wrinkle to the board's review of the project. The hospital board does not have authority over trauma centers. The U. of C. has to apply for the designation to the Illinois Department of Public Health and receive approval from the region's four other Level I trauma centers.
But the U. of C. has tied the trauma center to the bed-expansion project. At a community forum last week, Sharon O'Keefe, the medical center's president, said the hospital would not proceed with the trauma center if the expansion project is not approved.
asachdev@tribpub.com
