The hospital system in Chicago is one of the most crucial areas in the city. The best hospitals in Chicago would be properly looked into in today’s blog post.
These institutions contribute significantly to efforts made by the city of Chicago to improve the health of its resident’s thanks to their substantial investments in health care services.
In fact, a CDPH analysis of 2001 data showed that Chicago hospitals collectively provided 30% of outpatient primary care, whereas safety net providers (community health centers and publicly-operated clinics) accounted for just 10% of ambulatory primary care services that year.
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Important Hospital Trends
In the five years between 1999 and 2003, many hospitals underwent changes, but Northwestern Memorial Hospital unquestionably underwent the most significant ones.
Although it has long been a dominant force among Chicago hospitals, this dominance increased significantly over the course of these five years.
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Admissions were up 38%, live births were up 40%, mammograms were up 40%, CAT scans were up 142%, and MRI scans were up 181%.
Additionally, Northwestern Memorial has been ranked first for all volume indicators, with the exception of emergency room visits, such as admissions, live births, surgeries, and mammograms (though even for this measure it had the greatest increase).
In 2003, out of the 38 hospitals in Chicago, Northwestern was responsible for 10% of admissions, 20% of live births, 21% of mammograms, 20% of CAT scans, and 30% of MRI scans.
While many hospitals underwent one or more expansions, Swedish Covenant Hospital is the only one besides Northwestern that stands out.
Its position among hospitals improved from 14th to 8th for admissions, from 15th to 5th for live births, and from 20th to 13th for ER visits.
The ranking remained largely unchanged for procedures. Following Northwestern, Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke’s Medical Center, the University of Chicago Hospital, John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, and Resurrection Medical Center are the other dominant hospitals in Chicago based on total admissions.
Best hospitals in Chicago
Here are 10 of the best hospitals in Chicago:
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Address: 251 E Huron St, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 312-926-2000
Beds: 894
Why did Northwestern top Chicago’s list, and why should you pick it to handle your upcoming medical emergency? Here’s one: According to David Burik, managing director of the Chicago-based Navigant Consulting, which provides advice to hospitals and other businesses, “they pair strong primary care with great specialty care.”
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Its top-notch doctors are solely responsible for the care’s high caliber. One of them is Patrick McCarthy, a heart surgeon who was brought in from the Cleveland Clinic and who now oversees Northwestern’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and an excellent women’s facility, the new and improved Prentice, are both located within the hospital.
- Rush University Medical Center
Address: 1620 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 312-942-5000
Beds: 748
Rush claims several city firsts, including the first cardiac catheterization lab, the first MRI scanner, and the first successful heart transplant, with roots dating back to 1837, the year Chicago was incorporated.
The hospital is still known for its cardiovascular care today, and Dr. Annabelle Volgman’s Heart Center for Women has garnered praise for its expertise in treating women specifically.
Additionally well-known are Rush’s Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and orthopedic programs (doctors from Rush are team physicians for the Bulls and the White Sox).
Late in 2011, Rush unveiled a brand-new, 14-story hospital building with larger operating rooms and an eye-catching butterfly shape that allows nurses to see each patient’s room clearly from their station.
The new emergency center is connected to the city’s 911 center and trauma network and is prepared to handle catastrophic cases of chemical contamination or an infectious outbreak.
Additionally, this teaching hospital approved more than 700 new research projects last year to add to the more than 1,000 that were already in progress.
- University of Chicago Medicine
Address: 5841 S Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 888-824-0200
Beds: 568
Strong teaching and research hospital, the University of Chicago Medicine is entering a new era. Stanford University School of Medicine is the only other medical school to receive more grants from the National Institutes of Health per faculty member ($328,000 in 2011).
According to hospital consultant David Burik, “They have always had a great tradition of subspecialty expertise, and now they are marrying that with a state-of-the-art facility.”
That facility would be the brand-new Center for Care and Discovery, which will debut in February and cost $700 million. The facility will have 240 private rooms and a focus on flexibility, enabling, for example, the transformation of an interventional cardiology suite into an operating room for open-heart surgery without relocating the patient.
The Comprehensive Cancer Center and the seven-year-old Comer Children’s Hospital are already providing care to South Side residents from all socioeconomic backgrounds as well as tourists from all over the world.
Also, the Comprehensive Cancer Center places an emphasis on prevention, early detection, and targeted therapies.
- Advocate Christ Medical Center
Address: 4440 W 95th St, Oak Lawn, IL 60453, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 708-684-8000
Beds: 690
Christ Medical, another teaching hospital, has been a fixture in the south suburbs for more than 50 years.
It is home to the Heart and Vascular Institute, which features top doctors and cutting-edge technology for treating coronary artery disease, heart rhythm problems, and other critical illnesses.
Christ Medical has also received high praise for its geriatric program, which encourages the elderly to live independently.
Hope Children’s Hospital, which also shares the Oak Lawn campus, specializes in pediatric heart and cancer care.
It merged with Advocate Lutheran General’s pediatric hospital in Park Ridge last October. It is now known as Advocate Children’s Hospital and has over 400 pediatricians and 230 subspecialists on staff.
- Loyola University Medical Center
Address: 2160 S 1st Ave, Maywood, IL 60153, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 888-584-7888
Beds: 569
Loyola deserves to be known as a leader in cardiac care, and not just on the clinical front. Over the years, the American Heart Association alone has given the medical center more than $10 million for research into ways to “build lives free of cardiovascular disease,” as the AHA puts it.
However, hearts are not Loyola’s only area of expertise. The American Stroke Association honored the medical center last May for the fourth year in a row for its multidisciplinary approach to treating that often fatal ailment.
You’ll also find assistance with other serious health issues: Dr. Pauline Camacho, director of the Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Disease Center, coauthored the national guidelines for diagnosing and treating osteoporosis.
In addition, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center was recognized by the American College of Surgeons last spring for providing “outstanding” oncologic care.
- University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System
Address: 1740 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
Phone: +1 866-600-2273
Beds: 495
This inner-city medical center is a high performer in cancer and urologic care, as well as a socially conscious institution. “Part of our mission is to eliminate health disparities,” says Dr. Joe G. N. “Skip” Garcia, the hospital’s vice president for health affairs (he’s also a leader in the treatment and research of lung disorders).
In order to reduce deaths from preventable medical errors, two doctors, David Mayer and Timothy McDonald, founded the Institute for Patient Safety Excellence in 2006.
The innovative program, which uses games, role-playing, and simulation exercises to teach teamwork and communication skills, is now serving as a model for medical schools across the country thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
- NorthShore Evanston Hospital
Address: 2650 Ridge Ave, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 847-570-2000
Beds: 354
NorthShore University HealthSystem is anchored by Evanston Hospital (which also includes Glenbrook, Highland Park, and Skokie Hospitals).
That means that if you choose it to treat your medical problems, you will have access not only to Evanston’s primary care and specialty physicians but to all of the health system’s 800-plus doctors.
“One of NorthShore’s strengths is its ability to recruit great physicians,” says hospital consultant David Burik.
Evanston also collaborates with the University of Chicago to educate medical students and advance academic research, and it announced a partnership with the Mayo Clinic last fall.
This does not imply that you must travel to Minnesota for a consultation. Instead, teams of doctors from both locations examine electronic medical records.
- Central DuPage Hospital
Address: 25 Winfield Rd, Winfield, IL 60190, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 630-933-1600
Beds: 313
Central DuPage (part of the Cadence Health System) is not a teaching hospital, unlike the seven medical institutions ranked higher on Chicago’s list.
Dr. David Cooke, Cadence’s vice president of quality and safety, says it’s no problem. “Our attitude is that we’ll have to prove ourselves, and we’re eager to do so.”
Part of the proof is in the technology, which includes a slew of services that you’d expect to find only at Central’s big-name competitors downtown, such as electronic medical records, 64-slice computer tomography, and the minimally invasive da Vinci robotic surgical system, and proton radiation therapy.
To better treat children, Central collaborates with physicians from Lurie’s Children’s Hospital, who travels from Chicago to treat the children.
On complicated heart and cancer cases, staff consults with the Cleveland Clinic. “They’re incredibly generous with their intellectual capital,” Cooke says.
- Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
Address: 1775 Dempster St, Park Ridge, IL 60068, United States
Phone: +1 847-723-2210
Beds: 638
If you are a woman living in the northwest suburbs, you might be drawn to Lutheran General for a variety of reasons.
Its Center for Fetal Care provides care to expectant mothers who have hypertension, heart disease, or diabetes, and its perinatologists handle high-risk pregnancies in which the fetus may have a serious medical condition.
The Caldwell Breast Center was the first hospital in the Midwest to offer 3-D mammography, and it offers cutting-edge treatments, such as accelerated partial breast radiation therapy, to eradicate cancer and prevent its recurrence.
Women and men seeking minimally invasive procedures will find a variety of robotic surgeries available, with a focus on uterine, prostate, and colorectal care.
- Alexian Brothers Medical Center
Address: 800 Biesterfield Rd, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007, United States
Website: Click here
Phone: +1 847-437-5500
Beds: 387
If you believe that spirituality is an important part of healing from illness, you should pay a visit to this northwest suburban hospital, which is part of the Alexian Brothers Health System.
As a Catholic organization, it makes every effort to work with patients of all faiths. That doesn’t mean Alexian ignores its medical obligations. “It is really focused on getting its primary care physicians in place,” says David Burik, a health care consultant. “It’s always been a feature of the hospital.”
On the Hoffman Estates campus, there is also a rehabilitation hospital with inpatient and outpatient services, as well as a behavioral health hospital that treats autism, addiction, and eating disorders. This summer, a 16-bed end-of-life hospice will open, allowing patients to die with dignity.
FAQs Best hospitals in Chicago
- What is the most important hospital in Chicago, Illinois?
U.S. News & World Report has named four Northwestern Medicine hospitals to its Best Hospitals list for 2020-2021. Northwestern Memorial Hospital remained the top hospital in Illinois and Chicago.
- Which is better, Rush or Northwestern?
Northwestern was ranked first in the state for the ninth consecutive year and tenth in the country for the second time. Rush is the second-best hospital in the state and the 17th-best hospital in the country.
- Are Chicago’s hospitals good?
According to a recent poll of U.S. News and World Report’s best hospital rankings for 2020-21, two Chicago-area medical centers were named among the best in the country.
- What is Chicago’s largest hospital?
Rush University Medical Center’s 14-story, 830,000-square-foot facility on Chicago’s Near West Side has 664 patient beds.
The hospital is famous for its butterfly-shaped tower, which was built to handle mass casualty situations.
Conclusion on the Best hospitals in Chicago
Choosing the best hospital necessitates a thorough examination of the costs and efficiency of care provided, both of which are critical to patients.
This article contains a list of some of the best hospitals in Chicago, ranked based on their performance, which is weighted far more heavily than the other factors.
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