Not long ago, the University of Chicago Medical Center began a program--the Urban Health Initiative--part of which includes efforts to move non-urgent patients out of its emergency department and over to clinics and community hospitals. The truth is, what it's doing isn't that unusual. But given its high-profile status as a prominent academic medical center, what it does gets more press, and with that has come a lot more criticism.
With protests from the community and patients generating a lot of heat, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush has called for a congressional investigation into the the center's practices, which he says could potentially constitute patient dumping. What's more, Rush has threatened to try to take away the hospital's eligibility for federal funding.
The hospital says that it's only attempting to lower costs by re-routing those patients who don't have real emergencies, but critics have alleged that the center is turning away low-income and uninsured patients to pad its bottom line.
To learn more about this situation:
- read this Chicago Tribune piece
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