December 22, 2009 - For Immediate Release

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BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD HONORS LOYOLA'S HIP AND KNEE JOINT REPLACEMENT PROGRAM

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Loyola University Hospital has won Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's new Blue Distinction® designation for knee and hip replacements.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield said the designation helps consumers find quality specialty care on a consistent basis. Blue Distinction is based on "rigorous, evidence-based, objective selection criteria established in collaboration with expert physicians' and medical organizations' recommendations."

Blue Cross Blue Shield launched the Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement in 2009. Loyola earlier won Blue Distinction designations for cardiac care; heart, lung and stem cell transplants and complex and rare cancers, including acute leukemia, bladder, brain (primary), esophageal, gastric, head and neck, liver (primary), pancreatic, rectal and thyroid (medullary and/or anaplastic). For more information, visit http://www.bcbs.com/innovations/bluedistinction/.

Loyola orthopaedic surgeons perform more than 500 hip and knee replacement procedures each year at the Maywood campus and at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, which is part of the Loyola system. Surgeons individualize joint care, choosing among several surgical techniques, including minimal incision approaches.

"Our patient-centered joint replacement program offers a full continuum of care, from the initial visit through rehabilitation," said Dr. Terry Light, chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery & Rehabilitation. "We educate patients and their families, and encourage them to work closely with their doctors, nurses and therapists for the best possible outcomes."

Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 28 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.