Northwestern Memorial Hospital may move forward with a $96 million project to add more intensive care unit beds, a state board decided Tuesday \u2014 a plan that\u2019s part of a larger growth strategy for the hospital.<\/p>\n
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve Northwestern\u2019s application for the project, which includes the addition of 42 intensive care unit beds and a two-story connector between two pavilions, among other things. The new ICU beds will be in spaces that were previously doctors\u2019 offices.<\/p>\n
The additional beds are intended to help alleviate long waits in the hospital\u2019s emergency department by getting patients into hospital beds quicker.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lack of ICU bed availability has caused significant backups in the emergency department, which has, in turn, led to excessive (emergency department) wait times, causing lower acuity patients to sometimes leave the emergency department without being seen,\u201d said Dr. Rachel Cyrus, associate chief medical officer at Northwestern Memorial.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, about 10,000 patients a year leave the hospital\u2019s emergency department without being seen, according to Northwestern\u2019s application for the additional beds. The lack of enough ICU beds has also made it difficult for Northwestern to accept transfer patients from other hospitals, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Northwestern Memorial needs more ICU beds partly because, as an academic medical center, Northwestern takes many especially ill, complex patients, Thomas McAfee, president of the hospital, told the board Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Board member Gary Kaatz noted Tuesday that smaller, community hospitals often ask the board for permission to close or shrink their ICUs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kaatz asked McAfee if he envisions a future in which academic medical centers have ICUs but community hospitals do not. Many Illinois community hospitals have also closed their obstetric<\/a> and pediatric units<\/a> in recent years, partly due to competition from larger hospitals that focus on those areas of medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a tough question,\u201d McAfee said. \u201cI think there\u2019s always going to be a space for ICUs and other critical populations being cared for in the communities as well.\u201d He added that he expects to continue to see telemedicine and teleconsults used to extend the expertise at academic medical centers into community hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The project to add more ICU beds is one of a number of expansion efforts Northwestern Memorial is planning in coming years.<\/p>\n Northwestern Memorial also recently gained approval from the state board to spend $56 million on design services for a potential new tower on its Streeterville campus<\/a>. That tower would have more than 200 beds to help meet demand, according to the hospital\u2019s application for that project.<\/p>\n The tower could open by 2031, if it\u2019s approved by the state board. The ICU bed project the state board approved Tuesday \u201cwill be a critical bridge to address the high ICU occupancy before a new tower can be opened,\u201d according to Northwestern\u2019s application for the expansion.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether with the new tower that is in development, this project will provide the additional bed capacity that\u2019s needed to accommodate current and future demand for our high acuity services,\u201d Cyrus told the board.<\/p>\n Northwestern has not yet submitted a plan to the board for the actual construction of the tower. But it is also asking the board to approve plans to spend another $51 million demolishing a three-story basement on the site, in anticipation of building the tower.<\/p>\n