Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital lays out plan for $389 million expansion, modernization project

Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital has applied to a state board to begin a $389 million expansion and modernization project that would add nearly 100 beds to meet high demand.

The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board must first approve the project, which Northwestern officials discussed at a Lake Forest City Council meeting earlier this year. If approved, construction could begin in June, and wrap up by April 2028, according to an application submitted to the board.

As part of the project, Northwestern is proposing building an addition on to the hospital. The project would add 96 inpatient beds, including 12 intensive care unit beds, nearly doubling the number of the hospital’s inpatient beds to a total of 210.

The hospital would also relocate and expand its emergency department, imaging equipment and inpatient rehabilitation services.

It would include about 290,000 square feet of new construction.

The massive project is needed because of “extremely high occupancy,” beginning even before the pandemic, Northwestern said in its application to the state.

A few forces have led to that demand at Northwestern Lake Forest, according to Northwestern.

For one, the emergency department at Vista Medical Center West in Waukegan closed several years ago, meaning some of the patients who went there are now going to Lake Forest for emergency care. Also, since Lake Forest hospital became part of Northwestern in 2010, it’s offered more specialty care. Lake Forest now treats more complex patients who, in the past, might have had to be transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital downtown.

Goals of the project include keeping more beds open at Northwestern Lake Forest, reducing the amount of time patients have to wait in the ER for placement elsewhere, and keeping the hospital from having to go on bypass, which is when a hospital asks ambulances to take incoming patients to other hospitals for a period of time because it’s too backed up. A Tribune investigation previously found that Northwestern Lake Forest spent the fourth highest amount of time on bypass of any Chicago area hospital from 2017 through much of 2019.

The project comes about five years after Northwestern replaced the old Lake Forest hospital building with a new one.

Northwestern also recently applied to the state board for a separate $163 million project to build an outpatient medical office building in Bronzeville that it announced in June. The 127,000-square-foot building would be located on the 4800 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago and include specialty care, urgent care, lab tests, an infusion center and diagnostics such as mammograms and ultrasounds. It would also include retail space on the first floor and parking.

If the state board approves it, the facility could be complete by March 2026.

The new facility would help patients receive care closer to home, Northwestern said in its application to the state board. Now, more than 800 residents of Bronzeville and surrounding neighborhoods travel to a Northwestern facility each day for outpatient care, according to Northwestern.

“A local facility will reduce the burden of traveling to both routine outpatient care and follow-up care,” Northwestern said in its application to the state. “Access to health care services has a profound effect on every aspect of a person’s health.”

Northwestern has faced criticism for years that it hasn’t done enough for patients on the South Side of the city.

The details of the plans were posted on the state board’s website Tuesday, the same day that Northwestern Memorial workers represented by SEIU Healthcare Illinois demonstrated outside the downtown hospital, alleging the hospital is understaffed, should be paying it workers more and investing more in underserved Chicago communities.

Northwestern said in a statement Tuesday that it looks forward to “collaborating with the SEIU as we begin discussions on a new collective bargaining agreement.”

“We care for patients regardless of their ability to pay across our more than 200 locations,” the statement said. “Our recent announcement of a new state-of-the art facility in Bronzeville will help us enhance the care we already provide, meeting the needs of families where they live and work. We welcome the SEIU’s participation in our efforts to recruit additional staff to support our efforts.”