Photo by John R. Boehm
Dr. Aimen Shaaban is a world-renowned fetal surgeon who started at Lurie this month.
July 15, 2017
Client: Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Source: Crain’s Chicago Business
“As smaller area hospitals close or consolidate their pediatric wards, Lurie Children’s Hospital is doing the opposite: launching a high-profile fetal surgical center—one of only a few in the world—and, separately, beginning a $51 million project to add 48 beds for critically ill kids and newborns. Meanwhile, executives are gearing up to pitch a second expansion phase to the board later this summer.
Lurie’s pedal-to-the-metal approach stands in stark contrast to what’s happening at many community hospitals, most recently Mount Sinai Hospital on the West Side. Among those sitting on the wrong side of a decades-long shift in pediatrics toward high-end specialty care for complicated cases—and cheaper outpatient care for everything else—Sinai announced in June that it will close its 24-bed children’s ward due to lack of demand. The Chicago area has lost 140 children’s beds over the past four years, by Lurie’s count.”
