The University of Chicago Medicine has updated its original plans to build the city's first freestanding cancer hospital with an enhanced design that incorporates feedback from patients and residents of the South Side. The new cost and size of the project is $815 million for a 575,000 square foot facility that has the ability for future expansion.
The project's updated plans reflect the community-driven, patient-focused changes made following the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board's approval of a master design permit in March of 2022. The permit allowed UChicago Medicine to spend money on design and site planning and afforded the time to get input from members of the community, cancer patients and survivors.
UChicago Medicine reports that changes to the cancer center project include the following:
- Patient-focused enhancements
- Redesign of the ground-floor space to be a community hub for cancer prevention, screening and diagnosis
- Private infusion bays
- Will have 575,000 square feet instead of 544,000 square feet, with seven floors instead of five
- A dedicated breast center and shell space for future growth and technologies that have yet to be developed
The new proposal is outlined in UChicago Medicine's Certificate of Need application, which was filed with the state Review Board this month and seeks approval for the full construction of the cancer hospital. The new cancer hospital would consolidate care that is currently spread across at least five buildings on UChicago Medicine's Hyde Park campus, which is the hub of the academic health system.
The plan also includes:
- 80 inpatient beds, including 64 medical-surgical beds and a 16 bed intensive care unit
- 90 consultation and outpatient exam rooms
- A dedicated rapid assessment/urgent care clinic to protect immunocompromised oncology patients from extended emergency-room visits
- Infusion therapy with private rooms grouped by cancer type
- Cancer imaging suite with two MRIs, two CT scanners, two ultrasounds, two procedure rooms with mobile C-arm and fluoroscopy and an X-ray
- A multidisciplinary breast center
-Dedicated clinical trial spaces, for streamlined access to the latest research
- A center dedicated to prevention, detection, treatment and survival, offering complementary therapies and stress reduction, community education and well-being support
Just 50 years ago, a cancer diagnosis seemed unbeatable. Following the National Cancer Act of 1971, the country has seen remarkable advances in cancer detection and treatment. From 2001 to 2020, the rate of cancer deaths in the U.S. dropped 27%. However, the benefits of these advances have not been seen equitably across the nation's communities. UChicago Medicine's service area sees elevated rates for some of the most preventable or treatable cancers such as cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers.
The situation is expected to get worse. The incidence of cancer on the South Side is projected to increase 19% in the next five years, compared to 9.1% in the five collar counties surrounding the City of Chicago.
Because of these alarming statistics and facts, UChicago Medicine launched a rigorous engagement effort to get input from patients and the community so that the proposed cancer center would reflect their needs. The hospital hopes to become the premier destination for comprehensive cancer care, where groundbreaking science and compassionate care meet to provide an unrivaled approach to conquering cancer according to Tom Jackiewicz, President of the UChicago Medicine health system.
UChicago Medicine is already a world-renowned cancer center with international reach and one of only 71 hospitals within the U.S. designated by the National Cancer Institute as delivering cutting-edge cancer care to patients in its communities since 1973. The new cancer center and hospital will build on nearly a century's worth of cancer-related achievements and discoveries at the University of Chicago.
The facility, which will be built on East 57th Street between South Maryland and Drexel Avenues, is being designed by global architecture firm CannonDesign. Pending state approval, construction for the new cancer facility will begin in 2023, with a planned opening in 2027.
