About Rush University Medical Center

Leveraging our strength to benefit our community

Medical research is increasingly clear: The root causes of many diseases and chronic conditions that shorten the lives of West Side residents link back not to genetics or poor choices, but to social, economic and environmental factors.

Rush is the largest employer on the West Side and spends millions of dollars on goods and services each year. Our Anchor Mission Strategy outlines the ways in which we channel that economic power to make West Side residents healthier by working to improve the economic vitality of their neighborhoods. We want to address the causes of poor health, not simply treat the symptoms of disease.

The strategy, which incorporates the following four commitments, drives our efforts to concentrate the impact of how we hire, purchase, invest and volunteer in eight of the West Side communities we serve.

• Hire locally and develop more local talent: We are steadily increasing the amount of new employees we hire from these 10 neighborhoods by partnering with city-wide community-based organizations to align our hiring needs with job candidates’ skills. We are also developing programs that help our current entry-level employees advance their careers within Rush.
• Buy and source locally: We know that Rush’s purchasing power can maximize economic development at the neighborhood level. Our purchasing managers are connecting with local vendors to increase the amount of goods and services we source directly from the West Side.
• Invest locally: In partnership with local community development finance institutions, we have begun to invest capital in community-based organizations and projects that lack access to traditional lenders but have demonstrated the ability to create the wealth communities need — for example, affordable housing. These “impact investments” are not donations or grants; they are business loans that we expect will return a small profit and an even greater social impact.
• Volunteer locally: Rush employees and students have always volunteered thousands of hours in dozens of organizations each year. We are working on a volunteer time off policy that allows them to be paid for some of this volunteer time, which will enable even more people to contribute to community-building work.

 

To learn more about how we are working to achieve health equity, visit our Rush in the Community page.

 

Rush statement on equal opportunity, diversity, equity and inclusion

For more than three decades, the Rush approach to equal opportunity and diversity has not wavered. It is that equal opportunity and diversity in employment, education and the delivery of health care are essential and must be furthered. This is a continuation of a policy that emanated from the hospital charters of 1865 and 1883 and the documents governing the establishment of Rush University in 1972.

Discrimination or harassment against any member of the Rush University Medical Center community (i.e., employee, faculty, house staff, student or patient) because of race, color, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital or parental status, or disability, as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, or any other category protected by federal or state law is prohibited and will not be tolerated. Nor will any person for those reasons be excluded from the participation in or denied the benefits of any program or activity within Rush University Medical Center or Rush University.

In certain instances, the implementation of this policy requires the use of affirmative action initiatives. At Rush, these are focused on strong recruitment and programming efforts, not on the use of quotas — and these recruitment and programming efforts will be continued, consistent with federal, state and municipal guidelines.

Click here to learn more about the racial justice and health equity work that Rush has been doing in community. 

Racial Justice Action Committee

In response to the murder of George Floyd and to ensure that Black lives matter inside and outside the walls of Rush University System for Health, the Racial Justice Action Committee (RJAC) was launched on the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth in 2020. Click here to read about the committee’s commitment to C.H.A.N.G.E

Rush and Residents Stand Against Racism

“As members and leaders of many of the Chicago health care organizations addressing the disproportionate black and brown mortality of the COVID-19 pandemic, we say without hesitation that black lives matter.” Click here to read the full statement from Rush and Chicagland healthcare providers.

Members of our Rush Med-Peds program, along with their local Med-Peds and Internal Medicine and Pediatric categorical peers, released these anti-racism statements: Chicago doctors are taking a stand against racism and Chicago Pediatric Resident Pledge

Statement from the Rush Med-Peds Program

We, the Rush Med-Peds program, want to reaffirm our commitment to working and living in a community that values diversity and inclusion in every aspect.  

We acknowledge the imbalance of BIPOC students, trainees and faculty in medicine across institutions nationwide, including our own.

As a program we strive to foster a safe environment for everyone, especially those underrepresented in medicine. 

The Rush Med-Peds residents and leadership continue to uplift Rush’s anti-racism work and encourage everyone in our community to speak up and speak out. 

You can contact the Rush Racial Justice Action Committee at CHEE@rush.edu

Equality is at the heart of Rush’s mission. We are dedicated to providing the best health care for the individuals and diverse communities we serve.

One important way we accomplish this mission is by maintaining a culture of respect, inclusion and equal treatment for patients, visitors, students and employees who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning and other sexual identities (LGBTQ+).

Rush’s commitment to equity of care for the LGBTQ+ community extends to all aspects of our institution — from patient care and clinical expertise to employment opportunities and employee benefits.

To learn more about our culture of LGBTQ+ inclusion, visit our main Commitment to LGBTQ+ Health Care page.

Rush University Medical Center has been on the frontline of institutions promoting disability rights, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

In recognition of these efforts, Rush University Medical Center and Rush College of Nursing were honored with the 2004 Henry Betts, MD, Award from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the top corporate award for disability rights and employment advocacy.

Rush has also been cited as “setting the standard of excellence in America” in a major report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the crisis of health care for people with disabilities.

To learn more, visit our main Disability Rights and Accommodations page.

The Rush Wellness initiative is driven by the philosophy that quality patient care is directly tied to the well-being of our providers, students and staff. At a time when health care professionals around the country are suffering from unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression and burnout, Rush Wellness is creating highly innovative, evidence-based solutions that are positively impacting our community and the future of health care.

In July 2020 Rush opened The Center for Clinical Wellness. The Center for Clinical Wellness is the first-of-its-kind; each finish, color, and texture was selected with a scientifically proven rationale to improve the well-being of visitors, while creating an optimal healing environment. Made possible by a significant philanthropic gift, the Center’s launch represents a new chapter in well-being for Rush University System for Health.

The Center for Clinical Wellness (CCW) will seek to address three primary goals: 

1. Creation of a culture of wellness, including programs to address burnout, support resilience, and increase joy in work.

2. Increased support for mental health, including access to care, reduction in stigma, and strategic partnerships to prevent suicide.

​3. Production of leading research through an emphasis on data and analytics.​

To learn more, visit the Rush Wellness page. 

Rush University Medical Center is uniquely prepared to treat patients during an outbreak of an infectious disease, such as novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In fact, when Rush University Medical Center opened the Rush Tower in 2012 it became the first Chicago area hospital specifically designed to provide treatment for an outbreak of an infectious disease.

Unique features of the Rush Tower that are helpful with handling the COVID-19 outbreak include:

• The Rush Tower has 40 negative pressure rooms, among the highest in Chicago. These assets are critical because it means that when the door to the room opens, air from the hall moves into the room, not from the room to the hall. This helps contain any infectious particles in the air in that room.
• The Rush Emergency Department is divided into three 20-bed units — each of which can be isolated with separate air handling. Every ED bed is in its own room with a door, which isolates the patient more than a curtain divider.
• The Emergency Department has an entry bay for ambulances that is covered and can be arrayed to further isolate infected patients who are entering for evaluation and treatment.
• The Emergency Department can be rapidly converted to enable high-volume screening. Phase 1 of the preparedness plan has already been implemented, with rapid triage and screening of potential coronavirus patients in ambulance bays. It can expand to increase throughput to see an additional 100 patients a day (in addition to their usual volume).
• Rush is ready to initiate the next phase of the plan — in two hours, we can convert a wing of the hospital into a negative pressure ward to accommodate more patients. This will increase our isolation room capacity by 32, bringing total capacity to 72 beds, which can all be used for COVID-19 patient treatment.

To learn more, visit the Rush COVID-19 Community Resources page or check out the Rush COVID-19 Response Playbook.

Rush University Medical Center Earns Top 20 Spot on U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll

For the first time in its history, Rush University Medical Center has earned a top spot on U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals Honor Roll. Rush holds the 17th spot among the nearly 3,000 U.S. hospitals evaluated, with 11 Rush programs ranked among the nation’s best.

Read moreabout this recognition here.

Vizient: No. 2 Ranking for Quality of Care

The health care performance improvement company Vizient ranked Rush University Medical Center second among 101 U.S. academic medical centers in its 2021 Quality and Accountability Study. The 2021 study, which marked the eighth consecutive time Rush has been ranked among the top five, evaluated participating medical centers and hospitals on the basis of safety, mortality, clinical effectiveness, efficiency and patient centeredness. Learn more.

U.S. News & World Report: Five Rush specialties ranked among the best

In U.S. News & World Report’s 2019-2020  Best Hospitals rankings, Rush University Medical Center ranked among the top 50 hospitals in five specialties, with two in the top ten and two the highest ranked programs in Illinois. Only 166 of the nearly 3,000 hospitals in the United States that U.S. News evaluated — about 5.5 percent — scored high enough for U.S. News to rank them nationally in even one specialty.

The Medical Center is ranked in orthopedics (7th in the country and No. 1 in Illinois), neurology and neurosurgery (8th), gynecology (14th, tops in Illinois), geriatrics (19th), kidney disease (nephrology) (49th). In addition to the national rankings of these five programs, U.S. News gave Rush “High Performing” status in the following programs: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, and gastroenterology and GI surgery. Learn more.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: five-star rating

All three Rush University System for Health hospitals received high marks for quality and patient experience from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), with Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital earning five-star ratings (the highest designation) and Rush Copley Medical Center earning four stars. Learn more.

Newsweek: Among the Top 20 Hospitals in the United States

A recent survey of peers and patients by Newsweek ranked Rush University Medical Center No. 19 among hospitals in the United States. In its third year, Newsweek’s “World’s Best Hospitals” rankings compare more than 2,000 hospitals around the globe. Not only was Rush numerically ranked in the top 20, it has also earned the No. 2 spot in Illinois. The rankings are based on recommendations from medical professionals, results from patient surveys and key medical performance indicators.

To review the complete list, visit our main National Recognition page.