UC Health's Drake Center Partnership Benefits Patients

Welcoming Drake Center into the UC Health family offers stability, opportunity and—most importantly—a system of support for patients with complex and chronic health care needs throughout Cincinnati and the surrounding region, UC Health officials say.

Drake Center, whose campus is in Cincinnati's Hartwell neighborhood, is a leading provider of specialized medical and rehabilitative care in the Ohio region, offering a comprehensive care continuum delivered by an interdisciplinary team of experts. Karen Bankston, PhD, is senior vice president/site executive.

The announcement that Drake Center is officially a part of UC Health came April 1 from James Kingsbury, president and CEO of UC Health. The move "makes all the sense in the world," Kingsbury said in a memo to UC Health associates and medical staff, "given UC Health's focus on solving the most medically complex cases."

Kingsbury added: "This also marks the beginning of a new era of stability for Drake, and we are excited about the many opportunities that lie ahead to build new partnerships with other providers who will help us position Drake for long-term success."

One such partnership was announced May 4: Drake Center reached a definitive agreement with HealthSouth Corporation to purchase its inpatient rehabilitation services and assume operation of two units. Those units will be converted to a rehabilitation hospital that will be fully owned by HealthSouth.

The newly created rehabilitation hospital will be called HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital at Drake.

Drake Center itself is now operating under the UC Health brand and making the transition to UC Health signage, forms, publications and marketing materials, including the Drake website (drakecenter.com). Additionally, email addresses of Drake associates have changed to the UCHealth.com suffix.

Drake Center's on-site team of physicians includes specialists in internal medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, pulmonology, cardiology, infectious diseases, nephrology and other fields. Many of them are faculty members at the UC Academic Health Center.

"This is a positive development because it ensures that Drake Center will remain not only a clinical practice site, but also an important teaching and research component of our academic health enterprise," says Thomas Boat, MD, chief executive officer of University of Cincinnati Physicians and executive associate dean of the College of Medicine.

Traumatic brain injury, including a dedicated unit with private courtyard and inpatient therapy room.

Signature Services at Drake Center

• Spinal cord injury, with specialized inpatient and outpatient care.
• Pulmonary care and ventilator weaning, offering advanced respiratory therapies and treatments for acute and chronic conditions.
• Stroke, featuring the Stroke Recovery Center at Drake, a continuum of inpatient and outpatient, interdisciplinary stroke recovery care and research.
• Advanced wound care, the only program of its kind in the country with a wound care-certified staff dedicated exclusively to wound care.