Coronavirus (COVID-19): When and How to Transfer Patients to Rush

In anticipation of the surge of patients coming in for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 illnesses, Rush has made some changes to our transfer policies.

In the past, we have supported non-emergent transfers in order to provide care for patients who could not be treated at our partner community hospitals. We will continue to help our valued community partners by reviewing transfer requests on a case-by-case basis. The criteria for transfer will be helping ill patients at outside hospitals by attempting to provide for their unmet clinical needs. Much of this will depend on our available resources and the requirements to care for the patients already in our Medical Center. As we have done for many years, all transfer requests will continue to go through the Rush Transfer Center for clinical evaluation and resource assessment.

Currently we have capacity for the 2-BRAIN, Stroke 60 and cardiovascular surgery programs. Our ability to handle transfers is likely to change as resources become scarcer. We will continue to do our best to treat as many patients as we can.

If you have questions, or to have a patient evaluated for transfer, contact the Rush Transfer Center at (312) 669-7874.

Thank you for your understanding as we navigate this challenging situation.