C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital was the only hospital in Michigan to be ranked among the nation’s best children’s hospitals, according to a comprehensive national survey released in January by Child magazine. The results of the highly competitive eight-month survey also place two specialty areas at Mott Hospital among the ten best in the nation, with orthopaedics ranking fifth and cardiac care ranking seventh. Mott Hospital ranked No. 14 overall.
The U-M Medical School was again ranked one of the top ten among the nation’s 124 fully accredited medical schools, according to the annual “Best Graduate Schools” rankings released by U.S. News & World Report. The school has ranked consistently in the top ten for five years.
U.S. News & World Report also ranked U-M in the top ten for four specialties: family medicine (No. 4), geriatrics (No. 6), internal medicine (No. 8), and women’s health (No. 7).
The U-M Health System was named one of ten 2005 Premier Healthcare Employers in the country by the Premier Workplaces organization. UMHS was recognized for its outstanding people practices and innovative human resources programs that attract and retain diverse talent.
The U-M Cardiovascular Center (CVC) won’t start welcoming patients to its new building until mid–2007. But rising demand for U-M heart and vascular care is already prompting major expansion plans. UMHS leaders received permission from the Board of Regents to add 28 more inpatient beds, increasing the total to 48.
The expansion will mean that many adult CVC patients will be able to receive all of their care, from diagnosis and outpatient appointments to surgery and recuperation, in one state-of-the-art building.
The U-M CVC is nationally and internationally known for patient care, research, and education in cardiology, hypertension, vascular medicine, vascular surgery, cardiac surgery, interventional radiology, stroke care, and children’s heart care. It’s ranked 18th in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report, 5th for women’s heart care by Good Housekeeping, and 7th for pediatric heart care by Child magazine.
The UMHS Transplant Center, in collaboration with Gift of Life Michigan, raised its organ donor conversion rate to an unprecedented 91 percent in 2004, making it the leading transplant center for organ donation in Michigan and one of the best in the country.
This joint effort, which resulted in 68 organs for transplantation at U-M hospitals in 2004, was honored with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Distinguished Medal of Honor for achieving and exceeding a life-saving organ donation rate of 75 percent or greater for a sustained 12-month period.
Nearly $36 million for a new women’s and children’s hospital facility was raised this year through the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital capital and program campaign, led by U-M Regent David Brandon and his wife, Jan, and U-M head football coach Lloyd Carr and his wife, Laurie. The figure includes more than $500,000 in M GO BLUE for Mott wristband sales, a collaborative effort between Mott Hospital and the U-M Athletic Department.
In fiscal year 2005 alone, 11,585 children were admitted to or born at the facility, and there were more than 165,000 outpatient visits by children and infants to U-M clinics.
The new facility will house Mott’s current services, as well as the Michigan Congenital Heart Center, the Birth Center and Holden Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and one of only 13 Level 1 pediatric trauma centers in the United States.
History came full circle when the foundation that bears Charles Stewart Mott’s name granted $25 million to help construct the children’s and women’s facility.
The new grant is the largest ever to the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, part of the U-M Health System, and the largest single grant in the Mott Foundation’s history. Representing a sizable portion of the project’s philanthropy goal, it adds tremendous momentum to the year-old effort to raise funds for the new hospital.
UMHS has launched a website to encourage donations of any size for the facility. The site invites the community to Take the Mott Challenge by donating online at www.med.umich.edu/mottgrant.
Mott Hospital also received a major grant of $4 million from The Carls Foundation for the new facility. The grant carries with it the mission and commitment of its late founders, Detroit industrialist William Carls and his wife, Marie, to provide the youngest patients with the best medical care through the support of pediatric health care facilities and programs in Michigan.
Several major new buildings currently under construction will help the U-M Health System meet surging demand for its nationally recognized medical care, research, and education. At the same time, UMHS leaders are looking to the future, with a new master plan that gives a framework for long-term expansion opportunities.
The plan, presented to the Board of Regents this year, maps out the opportunity for UMHS to build new buildings totaling about three million square feet during the next several decades. The potential buildings would add to the nearly six million square feet already in existence or under construction in the core medical campus.
The plan also considers how people will flow into and through the different areas. Parking and transportation options, enhanced pedestrian flow, open space, and environmental stewardship will all receive detailed attention.
Robert Kelch, MD, executive vice president for Medical Affairs and CEO of the Health System, notes that the plan will help UMHS strengthen connections and cooperation with schools and colleges on the University’s central and north campuses. “The U-M is one of few institutions in the nation where leading medical, health sciences, business, engineering, and law schools are located so close together, and we need to strengthen those connections,” he says. He notes that the plan ties closely with the new five-year Strategic Direction document designed to steer Health System planning and activity.