Urban Health Initiative Newsroom

If Not the Emergency Room, Then What?
The Washington Post
July 25, 2009
"… Whitaker and his Urban Health Initiative team are trying to produce a major expansion of community care that will improve patient health and reduce costs -- goals central to President Obama's health-care reforms." »Read the article

Panelists say Urban Health Initiative will improve local care
Chicago Maroon
June 2, 2009
The University of Chicago Medical Center and the University of Chicago Student Government held a forum to address student and community concerns about the Urban Health Initiative and its impact on local healthcare. » Read the story

We can make the South Side a model for health-care reform
Chicago Tribune Letter to the Editor
April 23, 2009
In this letter to the editor, Eric E. Whitaker, MD, MPH, executive vice president for strategic affiliations and associate dean for community-based research, comments on how partnerships can make Chicago's South Side a model for health-care reform.
» Read the op-ed

Grand Boulevard expansion provides community-based specialty care
The University of Chicago Medical Center
October 29, 2008
Patients, physicians and others from the Medical Center and Access Community Health Network, as well as South Side community leaders, celebrated the expansion of the Grand Boulevard Family Health Center on Friday, September 26. The expansion marks an innovation in community-based health care, allowing UCMC specialty care physicians to practice at the Access Grand Boulevard Family Health Center.
» Read the press release

Building a 'medical home' for all
The University of Chicago Chronicle
September 25, 2008
For patients, the expansion of the Grand Boulevard Family Health Center will mean shorter waits to see a doctor and more regular treatment for chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes. For the University Medical Center, which helped the clinic double in size with a $350,000 grant, the expansion represents a new chapter in the Urban Health Initiative, an ambitious effort to reshape health care on Chicago’s South Side. »Read the article

Michelle Obama is right about avoiding the ER
The Wall Street Journal
September 2, 2008
"That 'Urban Health Initiative' saved her hospital money, and it also surely improved the health of the people it served."
»Read the article

Michelle Obama, U of C plan is good public policy
Chicago Sun-Times editorial
August 27, 2008
"…We believe the university hospital's efforts to essentially outsource non-urgent medical problems to neighborhood clinics is good health care policy, with the potential to become a model for the nation." »Read the editorial

U of C delivers the right care in the right setting
Chicago Sun-Times Letter to the Editor
August 28, 2008
In this letter to the editor, Eric E. Whitaker, MD, MPH, executive vice president for strategic affiliations and associate dean for community-based research, comments on the Medical Center's efforts to connect patients with appropriate and available health care resources. »Read the letter

U of C seeking cure for South Side poor: Hospital, partners fill void left by ailing rivals
Crain's Chicago Business
March 21, 2008
"Seeking to free up beds to take more complicated cases like organ transplants or brain surgeries, the Medical Center's CEO, James Madara, is forging alliances to treat the rising number of poor patients needing routine care." »Read the article

U of C tries new approach with uninsured: Non-emergency visits run up hospital costs
Chicago Tribune
July 8, 2006
"In University of Chicago's 'Healthy Community Access Program,' staff at the emergency room link patients to a primary-care doctor often closer to their home. They even have the ability to schedule follow-up appointments in designated slots at affiliated clinics." »Read the article