At Rush University Medical Center, providing the best possible care for patients isn't just our job: It's our mission — and it's at the heart of everything we do.

Since our founding in 1837, we have dedicated ourselves to serving — and to enhancing the lives of — our neighbors on the West Side of Chicago and beyond. Many of the students, faculty and staff at Rush generously donate their time and skills — both within and outside the Medical Center. Their efforts include numerous health outreach projects in which Rush collaborates with neighborhood clinics, churches, schools and other organizations to provide health services and information to underserved children and adults of all ages.

Another key component of Rush's mission is meeting the health care needs of all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. We treat every patient as we would treat members of our own families — with compassion, understanding and respect for their unique needs.

So it's not surprising that the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), an alliance of approximately 90 percent of the nation’s not-for-profit academic medical centers, has consistently awarded Rush the highest possible score for "equity of care" in its annual quality and safety benchmarking study. This ranking measures whether patients receive the same quality of treatment and have the same outcomes regardless of their gender, race or socioeconomic status.

Consistent with our commitment to charity and strengthening the community, Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital provided more than $200 million in community benefits in fiscal year 2010 to the West Side and the Chicago area. Part of that amount was more than $135 million in unreimbursed, but much needed, care that Rush provided to its patients. For more information, download our community benefits report.

How can Rush afford to do this? As a not-for-profit organization, any revenue that is left after paying expenses is reinvested in our institution for such things as construction or renovation of facilities and the purchase of new medical equipment in order to provide better care for patients. A significant part of this goes into services that benefit patients: free care for patients who cannot pay and care for patients whose government insurance does not pay all of our costs; and critical medical services that operate at a financial loss but are necessary for the community's overall health.

As an academic medical center, Rush also subsidizes health and medical research that focuses on improving patient care, now and for future generations, by covering expenses not funded by private or government grants. We also use revenue to subsidize the education of the next generation of heath care providers whose tuition and grants do not cover the actual costs of educating and training these students, new doctors and other health care professionals. And we fund a variety of vital programs, such as mammography, that help meet the specific health needs of our community and beyond.

Visit our Department of Community Affairs for information on the assistance the department provides to the community to improve health and education, especially for children and young adults.