Lutheran General Hospital

Park Ridge, Illinois

Lutheran General Hospital was selected as one of the nation’s best hospitals, according to the 1995 "Top 100 Hospitals - Benchmarks For Success" study conducted by HCIA/Mercer, Inc. which examined 4000 acute care hospitals across the USA. 

With 645 licensed beds, Lutheran General is one of the five largest tertiary care teaching, research, and referral hospitals in Illinois. 

Lutheran General’s 4,500 employees provide care to 25,000 inpatients, 124,000 outpatients and 42,000 emergency patients each year. 

Lutheran General Children’s Hospital is one of the largest and most comprehensive providers of pediatric services in Illinois, and cares for more than 3,500 pediatric inpatients and 100,000 outpatients annually. 

The Lutheran General medical staff includes 850 physicians and dental surgeons who have distinguished themselves throughout Chicagoland as clinicians, teachers and leaders in the healthcare field. Approximately 53% of the current medical staff’s adult primary care physicians are graduates of a Lutheran General residency program. 

The hospital is designated a Level I Trauma Center for both adult and pediatric care by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago. 

The hospital is a regional leader in cardiology, cancer services, critical care, treatment of children, women’s health needs, mental health and addiction. Specialty care areas also include medical/surgical, obstetrical/perinatal, orthopaedic, geriatric, physical medicine and rehabilitation. 

A pioneer in laser and endoscopic surgery, Lutheran General is one of Chicagoland’s busiest surgical centers, performing nearly 20,000 operations annually. Lutheran’s surgeons offer expertise in neurosurgery, trauma, urology, orthopaedics, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, heart and vascular procedures, among others. Lutheran General also provides expert pediatric care in every surgical subspecialty. 

The infectious disease division at Lutheran General operates the only outpatient HIV clinic in the northwest suburbs. 

In April 1996, Lutheran General’s Children’s Hospital’s outpatient programs relocated to the $20 million Victor Yackman Children’s Pavilion. This three story, 80,000-square-foot facility includes specialty clinics for children with complex illnesses and chronic conditions, and is one of the largest centers in the state for children with developmental disabilities or delays. 

Lutheran General’s Research and Education Institute is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, allowing the hospital’s medical staff to sponsor CME programming for national audiences - a status usually held only by large university teaching hospitals. 

Each year, over 220 helicopter flights transport trauma victims, high risk obstetric, and neonatal patients to Lutheran General. A new heliport landing deck has just been constructed on the roof of the hospital’s medical/surgical wing. 

The Research and Education Institute’s institutional review board monitored over 400 active research projects during the past year. 

A record 3,500 cardiac catheterization procedures were performed in 1995, representing a 25% increase over the prior year. 

Lutheran General is the only non-university hospital outside of Chicago with physician residency programs in internal medicine, family practice, pathology, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopaedics, and psychiatry; and fellowships in cardiovascular surgery, gastroenterology, and geriatrics.