The University of Chicago Medical Center will undergo a major restructuring that will trim $100 million in expenses - equivalent to 7 percent of its annual budget - and include the elimination of top executive positions.
According to reports in the Chicago Tribune, the hospital is taking such measures as a result of the economic downturn and unpaid bills from the state Medicaid program.
The hospital is eliminating 15 senior executive jobs, including vice president for community and external affairs, a position that had been held by incoming First Lady Michelle Obama. Her duties will be taken over by Eric Whitaker, MD, an executive vice president for strategic affiliations and external affairs.
The Medical Center has not determined the additional job cuts but said they would not affect medical care. The hospital also said it still intends to open a new $700 million hospital pavilion in 2012.
"The top of our list is making sure that our patients have a terrific and compassionate experience here," James Madara, MD, the medical center's chief executive officer, told the Tribune. "We plan on continuing with the new hospital pavilion. Our key strategic initiative here is to have a high technology platform."
Madara said there has been a need to "strip out inefficiencies and duplication" in the hospital. The job of the medical center's head of marketing, for example, was eliminated earlier this week.
Once the new hospital pavilion opens in 2012, the main adult hospital building will convert to all private rooms. Included in the new pavilion's features are 80 private patient rooms and 24 intensive-care beds on each of the top three floors. The sixth floor will house 24 operating rooms.