Northwest Indiana health care systems have been partnering with specialists and hospitals in Chicago to bring world-class treatment closer to home.
The hope is to retain more patients who otherwise would go to nearby Chicago to get advanced care. A Methodist Hospitals study found about a third of Northwest Indiana residents seek complex care in Chicago, CEO Matt Doyle said.
"It's been a lifelong issue for Northwest Indiana," he said. "A third of complex care leaves Northwest Indiana to go to Chicago. What we hear from the families is that they would like to stay in Northwest Indiana. We're working on strategies for that to happen."
Methodist Hospitals has entered into a number of clinical partnerships with the University of Chicago, Doyle said.
"We're trying to keep complex care here in Northwest Indiana and trying to stem the outmigration of that complex care going to Chicago," he said. "That partnership with the University of Chicago will expand with cardiology, neurology and neurosurgery."
Methodist Hospital invested in a da Vinci surgical robot that helps it with open-heart surgeries in Northwest Indiana.
"That term 'cracking the chest' that you hear about is changing," Doyle said. "It's quite amazing. The results have been phenomenal. The length of stay is averaging around three to four days. That's a perfect example of how technology intersects with quality and patient experience."
It looks to further collaborate with University of Chicago Medicine on different service lines, Doyle said.
"We've got some significant plans," he said.
Methodist Hospitals has entered into a strategic partnership with Synergy, a managing operator also within the University of Chicago system, to expand behavioral health at the Northlake campus in Merrillville. It will be able to double its ability to provide behavioral health services with 30 beds.
"We'll really focus on the adult behavioral medicine side and hopefully advance outpatient services," Doyle said. "That's something in the past we have not done."
Powers Health refers cardiology patients who, for instance, have suffered heart failure and who need technologically advanced procedures such as Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement surgeries to Community Hospital in Munster, St. Mary hospital CEO Janet Ryba said.
"That's one of the more prevalent diagnoses we're seeing in our area. The patients don't have to travel to Chicago for those services," she said.
Powers Health has symposiums and presentations to introduce the public to the services its providers offer closer to home.
"The patients are able to ask those questions. Maybe they did have that procedure in Chicago. They can ask if you can do that for me here," Ryba said. "We rely on word of mouth. We have key physicians who are here for the community and who communicate what they participate in."
Powers Health has been working to inform its physicians about what services it can offer locally.
"I think all of our systems have done a good job about educating the public and their patient. But when they go to their physician that message changes. Sometimes that physicians will say they have to go to Chicago. It's their comfort area. They trained in Chicago. They have buddies who practice in the Chicago area. They feel comfortable, if it's something outside of their scope, to refer to the Chicago area. Not to take away from Chicago. There are places in the city people should go to."
Franciscan Hospital Crown Point, for instance, partners with Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago to provide advanced services at its Center for Excellence for pediatrics and NICU, Franciscan Alliance President Raymond Grady said.
"That doesn't mean we won't have bread-and-butter OB services at our other hospitals," he said. "All of our high-risk care will be provided at our Crown Point facility. We will have transportation needs for patients who require high-risk services that can't be provided at their local hospitals."
Franciscan Health is building a new tower for the Dean and Barbara White Cancer Center in Crown Point to provide advanced cancer treatments. It also plans to partner with Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation out of Grand Rapids, Michigan to expand its rehabilitation services in Munster.
"They are comparable to Shirley Ryan in Chicago," Grady said.
Chicago has eight academic medical centers, making it difficult to compete with, Grady said.
"When you have that base of care, you have all those specialists," he said. "When you have something complex, you want to feel like the best and the brightest physicians are treating you with the greatest technology and innovation. It's hard to recruit specialists in Northwest Indiana. In Northwest Indiana, you have the advantage of being close to Chicago. You can get some of those specialists to come over here. But if you're downstate or further out, those specialists aren't going there."
© Copyright 2026, nwitimes.com, Munster, IN