The Primary Care Group

The Primary Care Group (PCG) under the director of Dr. Alex Lickerman, is our Section’s premier site for patient care and ambulatory teaching. Located on the third floor of the DCAM (Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine), the group is comprised of 40 physicians who care for patients and precept trainees in the primary care setting. The entire house staff from the Department of Medicine practices in the Primary Care Group, with each resident seeing patients one half day per week. Additional practitioners include several advanced practice nurses, a nutritionist and a patient care advocate. At a separate site in the hospital complex, the Section also staffs and runs the Student Care Center, dedicated to providing health care to the University’s student population, and the Employee Health Service for work related health issues in hospital employees.

The Primary Care Group conducts approximately 60,000 patient visits per year. The patient population is broad and complex, consisting of managed care patients, PPO plans from large employers (e.g., Ameritech and the Chicago Public Schools), and patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

Four of the Primary Care Group physicians attend for three months per year on the inpatient “hospitalist” service; other PCG physicians attend on the inpatient service one to two months per year. The PCG physicians also precept in the resident continuity clinics as well as our Urgent Care Clinic which is staffed by attending physicians, residents, interns, and senior students. The PCG faculty plays significant teaching roles for students on the junior medicine rotation by serving as outpatient preceptors and seeing patients with students during their two week ambulatory rotation, in addition to holding key leadership roles for the Junior Clerkship in Medicine and the Internal Medicine and Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Programs.

Additional GIM faculty see patients at our growing community practices located at 47th and Lake Park, and 88th and Stony Island.

Student Care Center

Sarah Van Orman, M.D. has been Director of the Student Care Center (SCC) since 2000 The SCC provides primary care services to approximately 10, 000 undergraduate and graduate students of . The SCC practice is growing rapidly with 20,000 patient visits per year. Nine members of the GIM faculty base part of their practice in the SCC providing acute and longitudinal care for this diverse population. Complementing these physicians are five advanced practice nurses, a nutritionist, and a health education specialist. The SCC collaborates with other departments to offer the services of a gynecologist, sports medicine physician, and infectious diseases/travel consultation physician. Residents and medical students rotate in the SCC gaining additional training in adolescent and young adult health care. The SCC staff works closely with staff, administration and faculty from the college as well as the various graduate divisions on matters affecting the health of the student body. This includes public health concerns, student health trends, health education, insurance plan selection and immunizations among many other topics.

Executive Health Program

Will Harper, M.D has directed the Executive Health Program since 2001. The Executive Health program is designed to help busy executives attain and maintain optimal health by providing them with a comprehensive health evaluation including a series of lab tests, cardiac and stress testing as well as nutritional counseling in a one-day clinic visit to Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine. In addition to Dr. Harper, Dr. Andrew Davis and Dr. Susan Hong practice in the Executive Health Program. This program is becoming increasingly popular since its inception, recording over 250 executive health visits per year.

Ethics Consultation Service

For the past twenty years, the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics has provided ethics consultations as a hospital service. These consultations are requested by attendings, residents, nurses, patients, or family. The consultation service is staffed by clinicians trained in ethics who are drawn from the GIM section and the Section of Geriatrics, as well as from the Departments of Pediatrics and Surgery. The ethics consultation service provides approximately 150 consultations each year. These consults are reviewed at a weekly multi-disciplinary ethics case conference, which is attended by students, residents, nurses, and attendings.

Academic Hospitalist Program