Northwest Community Healthcare opening new Buffalo Grove facility Thursday

Northwest Community Healthcare on Thursday will open its new Buffalo Grove Outpatient Care Center, from where it will provide immediate care, lab, X-ray, mammography and physical rehab services, as well as a home for its clinicians and, eventually, those of NorthShore Medical Group.

The four-story, 80,000-square-foot facility sits across from an existing NCH building at McHenry and Lake-Cook roads.

"This location will be our largest off-campus presence and provides enhanced clinical capacity in the communities we serve," said Rich Case, NCH vice president of hospital operations. Casey led the project with Dr. Sue Nelson, NCH's vice president of physician operations.

In October, NCH Medical Group Primary Care and Specialty Care; WomanCare at NCH; Behavioral Health; and CT, ultrasound and MRI imaging services will move into the new center.

The NorthShore Medical Group office in Buffalo Grove will relocate to the fourth floor of the new building in mid-December.

NorthShore and NCH merged in January, and the new entity soon will be growing larger with Wednesday's announcement that NorthShore and Naperville-based Edward-Elmhurst Health are planning a merger that would create a nine-hospital health care operation with the second-largest physician group in Illinois.

"It's been exciting to collaborate with our NorthShore colleagues on our first shared site," Nelson said. "Our combined focus has been on patient access, convenience, quality and experience."