Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago has filed a certificate of need application to build a $480 million pediatric hospital, emergency department and outpatient center in Downers Grove, Ill.
Six things to know:
1. The proposed project includes a nearly 298,000-square-foot facility with a 48-bed hospital, intensive care capabilities, a dedicated pediatric emergency department, surgical services, advanced imaging and outpatient specialty care, according to a June 18 health system news release.
2. The Downers Grove campus also would consolidate services currently provided at Lurie Children’s Outpatient Center in Westchester, Ill.
3. If approved, the Downers Grove campus would complement the health system’s main hospital in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood and expand access to pediatric specialty care across the western suburbs. The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board will review the application as part of the state’s certificate of need process.
4. Lurie Children’s serves children from every county in Illinois and is the state’s largest provider of pediatric Medicaid services. The project would be funded through a combination of cash reserves, philanthropy and bond financing, the release said.
5. The expansion responds to a broader trend of pediatric unit closures nationwide, President and CEO Tom Shanley, MD, told Becker’s in January.
“As we were developing this plan, we were also very attuned to what many people are observing — not just in our market, but across the country — that it’s very challenging to do what we do at Lurie Children’s Hospital and at many of our nationally leading peers in terms of providing a number of pediatric subspecialists, and comprehensive allied health professional teams, and focus exclusively on kids,” Dr. Shanley said.
6. The project’s completion date is Dec. 31, 2029, according to its application.
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