UChicago Medicine To Build $633M Cancer Hospital In Hyde Park

CHICAGO — University of Chicago Medicine officials hope to build what would be the city’s first freestanding cancer clinical center with a $633 million hospital that would be built on the city’s South Side near the school’s Hyde Park campus.

UC Medicine announced plans for the 500,000 square foot facility, which would offer 128 hospital beds for cancer patients. The building of the cancer center would allow UC Medicine to free up beds at other medical facilities for patients with other acute or complex health needs such as heart transplants, digestive diseases and other health issues, officials announced Thursday.

University officials said the location of the hospital was chosen as the city’s South Side has long struggled with providing local residents healthcare. UC Medicine said that 67% of residents who are seeking inpatient care leave the South Side.

Research has found that patients living farther from healthcare facilities have worse health outcomes, longer lengths of hospital stay, non-attendance at follow-up visits, higher rates of chronic disease-related deaths, lower five-year cancer survival rates, and increased overall disease burden.

Residents of the South Side also carry a high cancer burden. The problem is expected to grow worse: The CDC predicts the nation’s cancer rates will increase by 49% from 2015 to 2050.

“Cancer death rates on the South Side are almost twice the national average, and cancer is the second-leading cause of death for area residents,” Dr. Kunle Odunsi, director of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center said in a release on Thursday . “This is one of the key reasons we are building this cancer center. Social determinants of health are not only linked to adverse environmental exposures but also to a lack of resources, including access to disease prevention, early detection and high-quality cancer care.”

If approved, officials said that the new UC Medicine cancer center will add to an “emerging ecosystem of care” on the South Side, where community hospitals play a vital role in providing access to care to vulnerable and lower-income patients.

UC Chicago Medicine filed a Certificate of Need request to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board this week that seeks approval to spend money on design and site planning for the proposed cancer center.

As one of only two National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in Illinois and the only academic medical center on the South Side, UChicago Medicine officials said that the health system is uniquely positioned to reimagine cancer care for the community and for city residents.

“The University of Chicago has long been recognized for its strength in basic and translational research with fundamental and seminal contributions by our faculty to understanding the basic biology of cancer and its treatment,” Dr. Kenneth Polonsky, executive vice president for Medical Affairs at the University of Chicago said in the release. “Our health system is looking to build upon this legacy by establishing a cancer program of the future, where groundbreaking science and compassionate, complex care intersect to provide an unrivaled approach to prevent, diagnose, study, treat and cure cancer.”