Chicago-area system acquires orthopedic group

NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, Ill., has acquired a downtown Chicago physicians group, the 14-member Northwestern Orthopaedic Institute.

The doctors will join the NorthShore Medical Group starting Jan. 1. The group has another office in north suburban Glenview, Ill., and plans to establish an outpatient and surgery center at NorthShore Skokie Hospital, part of a larger 120,000 square-foot ambulatory care center scheduled for a December 2012 completion. That could lure joint-replacement patients from downtown hospitals.

“We look forward to expanding our practice in the Chicago suburbs and enhancing the full spectrum of comprehensive subspecialty orthopedic care at NorthShore,” Dr. Mark Bowen, co-president of the group, said in a statement.

The addition of the orthopedic practice bolsters two-hospital NorthShore, which competes with 854-bed Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. There’s no affiliation between the hospital and the physicians group, which are less than half a mile from each other. The acquisition gives NorthShore more of a footprint in the city of Chicago, as the system focuses on serving patients in the northern suburbs.

NorthShore has already inked sponsorships with the Chicago Bears and Chicago Blackhawks as official healthcare provider of the sport teams. Bowen serves as Bears team physician.