Staff from the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board released a report Tuesday that said a $270 million, 506-bed University of Chicago Medicine expansion project is too costly and unnecessarily large, according to Crain's Chicago Business.
U of C Medicine's proposed project, dubbed "GetCARE," includes adding a Level I adult trauma center, expanding its emergency department and adding 188 additional inpatient beds. The hospital has been forced to turn patients away in 310 days over the past year, according to a previous statement from President Sharon O'Keefe. The system is also seeking Level I designation for the trauma center to address the need for trauma care on Chicago's South Side.
Ms. O'Keefe noted in her response to the board's report that she believes the application is another step closer to providing better access to care on the South Side. It met more than a dozen other standards she noted, according to Crain's Chicago Business.
Despite the staff's findings, the board will still vote on the project May 10 and has been known to approve proposals that have raised concerns in the past, according to the report.
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