On April 6, 2016, the newly built University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) Orthopaedics Center opened in Orland Park.

“Satellite clinics are becoming more of an in vogue way of treating patients,” said Dr. Megan Meislin Conti Mica, one of the physicians involved with the new center.

The clinic’s goal is to give residents of Chicago’s south and southwest suburbs access to the quality of care that UCMC physicians can provide.

“[The Orland Park physicians] are committed to seeing patients quickly, so they can get care and get back on their feet as quickly as possible,” Dr. Douglas Dirschl, the chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine, told Newswise.

The satellite center will specialize in joint reconstruction, spinal surgery, upper extremity surgery, foot and ankle surgery, arthritis treatment, sprain and strain treatment, and treatment of sports injuries, among other procedures. In addition to providing consultations and outpatient care, physicians will also be able to perform surgeries at the Orland Park center.

Conti Mica hopes that overall surgical wait-time will decrease because physicians will now be able to perform surgeries at both the Orland Park center and the main Hyde Park campus.

Later this year, the orthopaedics satellite will be joined by the University of Chicago Medicine Center for Advanced Care—a four-story ambulatory facility also set to open in Orland Park. It will become UChicago Medicine’s largest off-site location and will provide care in many areas, including medical oncology, gastroenterology, cardiology, women’s health, and comprehensive diabetes.