Examples of Outcome Reporting Bias in Vaccine Studies: Illustrating ...

DuPage Medical Group Looks To Add Immediate Care Center In Naperville

The DuPage Medical Group building near the intersection of Ogden Avenue and Rickert Drive could soon expand and add services, including an immediate care center.

Naperville City Council members Wednesday will consider a 21,040-square-foot expansion to the existing 26,500-square-foot DuPage Medical Group building located at 808 Rickert Drive.

The current building, which houses facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, otolaryngology, audiology, ophthalmology, sleep center, radiology and lab services, is at capacity, said Maria McGowan, DuPage Medical Group executive director for marketing. If approved, the expansion could bring an immediate care center, expanded radiology services, primary care, and obstetrics and gynecology.

DuPage Medical Group currently has immediate care centers in Lisle, Hinsdale, Glen Ellyn, Joliet and Tinley Park, with a Bloomingdale location to open in mid-June.

"We feel very strongly about the positive impact that our Immediate Care Centers have in the ability to treat patients with acute illnesses or sudden injuries, and felt it highly beneficial to expand this service to Naperville," McGowan said.

Naperville's planning and zoning committee did not give the proposal a positive recommendation due to concerns with a parking lot setback from Ogden Avenue, citing the proposed parking lot would sit too close to Ogden Avenue.

City staff recommends the plan be approved.

"It's an appropriate use from staff's perspective and an appropriate variance," said Bill Novack, director of the city's Transportation, Engineering and Development department.

DMG Real Estate purchased the lot at 2052 W. Ogden Avenue – adjacent to its current building – and plans to demolish the building currently on the property. The building was previously home to a beauty salon that closed in October and a parking lot.

"When the opportunity to purchase the adjacent land became available in late 2016, we felt this site would be a perfect location for an immediate care center," McGowan said.

DuPage Medical Group is requesting the lot be rezoned from a general office district to office, commercial, and industrial district.

Staff finds the proposed rezoning appropriate as the property could serve as a transition space between surrounding residential properties and Ogden Avenue to the northwest, according to city documents.

Plans for the development also include an outdoor common area and space for bicycle parking.

If the proposal is approved, work would begin "promptly" and would take about 12 months to complete, McGowan said.

ehegarty@tribpub.Com

Originally Published: March 31, 2017 at 9:01 PM CDT

DuPage Medical Group To Become Duly Health And Care

The DuPage Medical Group, which has a number of medical offices in the suburbs including this one in Wheaton, is being renamed Duly Health and Care. Daily Herald File Photo, 2014

DOWN­ERS GROVE - DuPage Medical Group Wednesday said it will be renamed Duly Health and Care because of its continued growth and evolution.

Earlier this month, DuPage Medical Group announced an intended merger with Quincy Medical Group, a large physician-directed practice encompassing 155 providers in 35 specialties, spanning 18 locations in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.

"Our name is changing, but our commitment to improving all aspects of the health and care journey will continue on," said Steve Nelson, co-chairman of the board and chief executive officer. DuPage Medical Group is the largest physician-owned independent medical group in Illinois.

The Duly name honors the organization's 50-plus year legacy, while embodying its aspiration to challenge the expected and deliver the extraordinary in health and care, the medical organization said.

In the coming months, as it fully transitions to the Duly name, the organization will continue its work on delivering a seamless care experience for the people and communities it serves, it said.

"After all, Duly is much more than a name - it's a promise to practice health and care as intended," Nelson said.

Duly Health and Care will be the largest independent, multi-specialty, physician-directed medical group in the Midwest with more than 900 primary care and specialty care physicians and more than 6,000 team members, in over 150 locations.

DuPage Medical Group CEO On Growth: 'The Sky's The Limit'

In recent years, doctors' groups across the country have struggled to stay independent amid a morass of regulations, requirements and financial pressures.

DuPage Medical Group, however, has not only stayed independent — it's grown at a breakneck pace.

The Downers Grove-based medical group snapped up another 211 providers last year, expanding its ranks to about 800 providers and about 50 specialties in the west and southwest suburbs.

Expect to see that growth continue, says CEO Michael Kasper.

The Tribune sat down with Kasper, 44, to discuss DuPage's plans, the Affordable Care Act and the personal reasons behind his passion for health care — including his 11-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with a life-threatening connective tissue disorder a few years ago, when she was in second grade. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Why is expansion so important to DuPage Medical Group?

A: Within our business, or really any business, we have fixed assets, so growing the organization helps us leverage against those fixed assets. On the other side, we feel it's very important to have a place where physicians can go start up their practices and be as close to the independent practice as they were 25 years ago. It's important that we create an alternative for doctors outside of what has now become kind of your only option post-graduation, to join the hospital group.

Q: How does the owner-operator model work?

A: Our physicians have shares within the group. They own 100 percent of the clinical practice and then we have a management services company that they own shares in. They're involved in the decision-making of the organization. We really leave a lot of autonomy within the physician practices.

Q: DuPage got a $250 million investment from Summit Partners a year ago. What have you been doing with that money?

A: We were predominantly western suburban. We're now kind of in the southwest suburbs as well, and that infusion of capital helped us very much in that growth down south.

Q: Would you be interested in another investment like that?

A: There's nothing imminent but there's always a chance we could find a potential partner that would help fuel that growth, especially to help us take our group to a national platform.

Q: Is there a target size you're trying to reach, or is the sky the limit?

A: I would say the sky's the limit, really. Our ultimate goal would be to become the pre-eminent national medical group, a national solution for physicians and patients.

Q: What other changes are coming to DuPage?

A: We plan on expanding our access points for patients. In (the Lisle medical) building we have an immediate care center. These immediate care centers have done excellent work. They're not walk-in care clinics, (they have) ER-trained physicians, where we have high-end imaging capabilities. Before we'd have to send the patient directly to the emergency room because we didn't have an access point to take care of urgent patients within the organization. We have (four immediate care) sites across DuPage Medical Group and we anticipate expanding. I anticipate we'll continue to expand what we do on an outpatient surgery basis as well.

Q: Many independent medical groups are being acquired. How has DuPage managed to stay independent and grow?

A: A big part of it is we diversified our business. When I joined the group 61/2 years ago we forecasted and got prepared for what we knew were going to be leveling off or even shrinking fee-for-service economics.

Q: Do you think the uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act will affect DuPage's expansion plans?

A: No. We've never set a strategy related to reimbursement. All of our strategies have been around improving quality, improving value and improving access.

My hope is that they find a way to improve the Affordable Care Act, but a full repeal, in my personal opinion, it wouldn't hurt us as much because we don't have as many (patients with Medicaid or insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchange) who come to see us.

Q: You ran health insurance plans before joining DuPage, including as president of Humana Illinois. How has your experience working on the insurance side affected how you run DuPage?

A: It's critically important. Payers and providers and all the lines that have been drawn across the health care system, including even pharmaceuticals and others, those lines are starting to blur. Folks who have a more general understanding of health care will become the future leaders of health care.

Q: Why were you attracted to working in health care?

A: The system doesn't treat ill people very well and that always frustrated me. I wanted to be a part of an organization where I could influence not just the care delivery side but the service side of health care and how we take care of people.

My daughter, unfortunately, she has a genetic disorder. It's life-threatening. It's called Loeys-Dietz syndrome, it's a very rare disease. You talk about me taking this job and fate and destiny.

Our pediatrician, who's a DuPage Medical Group pediatrician, saved my daughter's life. My daughter had some orthopedic issues. When she had her second incident he looked at her and said, "There's something wrong with your daughter." He said, "You need to get her genetically tested," so we did and we found out she had this rare condition.

The organization has been a blessing in many ways.

lschencker@chicagotribune.Com

Twitter @lschencker

Originally Published: January 26, 2017 at 10:18 AM CST

---