Marathon Pundit: Univ. of Chicago to review Michelle Obama effort of shunt patients to other hospitals

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Univ. of Chicago to review Michelle Obama effort of shunt patients to other hospitals

The University of Chicago Hospital is generally agreed to be the best health care facility on Chicago's South Side.

So if you're a South Sider and you are sick or hurt, you probably would want to be treated there.

But a few years ago the hospital felt its emergency room were overcrowded, especially with non-emergency cases, so the Urban Health Initiative was created so ER patients would be sent to other health care providers.

Who was in charge of the Urban Health Initiative?

Michelle Obama.

ASK Public Strategies, David Axelrod's former company, was hired to promote the program.

The Chicago Tribune reported last night morning that the Urban Health Initiative appears to be on its way out.

University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer stepped into the fray Friday over a controversial proposal to redirect patients from the university hospital's emergency room, announcing steps to come up with "a better plan."

In an internal memo obtained by the Tribune, Zimmer said that a committee led by Dr. Everett Vokes, the newly appointed chair of the department of medicine, would "review, refine and modify" proposals initiated by the medical center's chief executive and dean of the medical school, Dr. Jim Madara.

"Fuller engagement of the faculty of the Department of Medicine should lead to a better plan and implementation," Zimmer wrote to faculty, residents and fellows.

Zimmer's memo comes as an intense debate has raged inside and outside the university after its announcement last month that it would eliminate beds in the ER and redirect some patients to other facilities in the face of spiraling costs and long waits for emergency treatment.