The additional 128 beds would also free up that same number of beds at the often-packed University of Chicago Medical Center, making room for more patients with other complex needs, he said. The hospital is often nearly full now, and was frequently near capacity even before COVID-19, he said. That means the hospital must now often turn down requests to have patients transferred to it from other strained area hospitals, said University of Chicago Medical Center President Thomas Jackiewicz, in a letter to the head of the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board about the project.
