UChicago Medicine, Little Company of Mary partner to boost community access to specialty care for children

The University of Chicago Medicine and Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers are partnering to expand care for infants and children by developing a subspecialty center on the community hospital's Evergreen Park campus that will provide enhanced neonatology and pediatric services.

Under the agreement, UChicago Medicine's nationally recognized pediatric subspecialists will work with Little Company of Mary Hospital physicians and nurses to provide the most advanced, comprehensive care for newborns and children in the broader South and Southwest communities. The expansion of services, which will begin in early fall, will include areas such as gastroenterology, psychiatry, cardiology, oncology and blood diseases, pediatric surgery and neurology. The following year, services will be added to include pulmonology, allergy, orthopedics and dermatology.

"We have a long tradition of serving the needs of women and children," said Dennis Reilly, President and CEO of Little Company of Mary Hospital. "This partnership allows us to be an even greater resource for our community by bringing together our primary and secondary expertise and UChicago Medicine's advanced subspecialty care."

Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers, a Catholic, not-for-profit hospital based in Evergreen Park, consistently garners accolades for quality as well as service to its community. LCMH completed its seven-year campus transformation project in fall 2014, which includes a new patient tower and a comprehensive Women's Center for Life and Health. In addition to receiving numerous national accreditations for a variety of hospital programs, most recently, Little Company of Mary Hospital was named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals® by Truven Health Analytics, a leading provider of data-driven analytics and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare. The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals® study identifies hospitals and leadership teams that provide the highest level of value to their communities, based on a national balanced scorecard.

The University of Chicago Medicine is one the nation's leading academic medical institutions attracting patients regionally, nationally and internationally for specialty care services. Its faculty physicians undertake research in an extensive array of areas and are among the top recipients of federal research dollars. The University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital is consistently ranked among the nation's best children's hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.

"We're pleased to work with LCMH on our shared commitment to continually improve access, extend clinical research and provide excellent outcomes to children throughout our South and Southwest Side communities," said Kenneth S. Polonsky, MD, executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Chicago and dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine. "This partnership builds on LCMH's strength as one of the areas most valued health assets and further enhances its service to thousands of families each year."