The policy, which other hospitals across the country have also been embracing to keep ED expenses in check, met with opposition last year from community groups and some University of Chicago physicians, saying the medical center was shirking its responsibility to the poor.
But criticisms have abated and the medical center’s financial report for the third quarter of 2009 shows that ED visits fell 20 percent while its profit doubled compared with the same period a year before.
Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook for the medical center from “negative” to “stable,” citing the ED change as a factor. The medical center is putting together financing for a new $700-million patient tower.
University of Chicago’s Urban Health Initiative, launched last year, redirects patients with simple cases like asthma treatment and baby deliveries to a loose network of nearby clinics and hospitals. Similar initiatives have been under way at Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center and Grady Health System in Atlanta.
Read Crain’s Chicago Business’s report on University of Chicago Medical Center.
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