The Cook County Health and Hospitals System and the University of Chicago Medical Center are taking the first steps to explore a partnership.
The county health board this morning agreed to split the cost with UCMC of a study examining the feasibility of a joint venture.
As the county health system juggles an imminent drop in funding, a growing patient load and rising operational costs, health board leaders see a UCMC marriage as a way to up its patient visits at Provident Hospital, which sees an average of fewer than 70 patients a day.
County health system CEO William Foley said it would be an academic and clinical relationship, where UCMC faculty and residents treat patients at Provident, some of which are likely to be overflow from the university hospital.
If all goes as planned, UCMC would give Provident financial assistance on renovations, but the county health system would continue to own, manage and employ staff at the South Side Hospital, which is nearby the University of Chicago. By aligning itself with the prestigious university, the maligned Provident could up its stature.
“There is (patient) demand, and by co-branding (Provident) with the U of C, that is also a strategy to create the demand,” Foley said.
Foley said the university’s new, but smaller medical pavilion presents capacity challenges for the hospital.
The deal could benefit the university, which has taken a lot of flack in recent years for its controversial Urban Health Initiative, which promotes the use of community clinics as a primary health care source for patients. Rather than turning them away from the emergency room, UCMC wants to promote the idea of “medical homes.”
But members of the communities surrounding the university have protested against the program, saying it discriminates against the largely poor, black community.
University medical center spokesman John Easton says the goal of the study is to find ways for a partnership to mutually benefit both institutions.
"The goal is not to push people out of here to Provident. The goal is to help maintain Provident," he says. "It's an important facility with a long and distinguished history on the South Side. There are a lot of reasons we would want to keep it functioning."
Foley said the first part of the study – examining the needs and capabilities of Provident and its finances – will be complete by the end of March. If leaders are satisfied with the results of that study, they will commission a follow up study, addressing operational and organizational planning issues.
The whole study will cost as much as $160,000, and will be split between the health system and UCMC.