UChicago Medicine seeks OK for $269M expansion

CHICAGO (AP) -- University of Chicago Medicine has submitted to state regulators a $269 million expansion proposal that includes an adult trauma center.

The health system announced Thursday it's asking regulators to approve the addition of 188 inpatient beds. Hospital officials say that would return the hospital to roughly its size in the late 1970s.

The plan includes turning Mitchell Hospital into a cancer center.

University of Chicago Medical Center President Sharon O'Keefe says the plan would reduce disparities in access to critical care on the South Side and address "severe capacity constraints" at the hospital. She says the hospital had to turn away patients on 310 days last year.

The South Side hasn't had adult trauma care since 1991 when the Michael Reese Hospital in the Bronzeville neighborhood closed its trauma center.