The University of Chicago Hospital broke ground last week on a new facility that promises additional specialty care at Crown Point.
The new microhospital will feature a two-story, 130,000-square-foot multi-specialty outpatient center at Crown Point in the Beacon Hill Development District located at I-65 and 109th Avenue.
“This project excites me,” said Tom Jackiewicz, president of the University of Chicago Medical Center and chief operating officer of the UChicago Medicine health system. “It will have things like a cancer center, transplant medicine and a women’s health center.”
The hospital estimates that 110,000 patient visits are expected annually once the facility opens in the spring of 2024. When completed, the care center will be the largest outside facility for the South Side-based academic health system. The $86 million construction and design project further expands access to health care in Northwest Indiana, where many of UChicago Medicine’s patients and employees live. Officials estimate that the facility will create 150 new clinical and non-clinical jobs.
The new micro-facility is necessary, according to Audre Bagnall, executive vice president of business development at the University of Chicago Hospital.
She said about 15 percent of northwestern Indiana residents go to Chicago for their health care needs at places like Northwestern and the University of Chicago.
Planned services for UChicago Medicine’s new Crown Point facility include an emergency department and short-stay inpatient unit; comprehensive cancer center with infusion therapy as well as radiation, medical and surgical oncology; Imaging center with MRI, CT, PET, X-ray and ultrasound capabilities; Ambulatory Surgery Center; laboratory services; Physician offices with access to UChicago Medicine physicians and specialists, including cancer care, cardiology, digestive diseases, orthopedics, neurosciences, pediatrics, primary care, surgical specialties, transplant care, and women’s health.
Crown Point Mayor Peter Land and Crown Point Corndogs owner Ralph Flores also spoke at the event.
Jane Bokun is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.