Alliance brings Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, nations top rehabilitation program, to Hennepin Healthcare

Hennepin Healthcare and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab are joining forces to bring the services and expertise of the nation’s premier rehabilitation hospital to patients of Hennepin Healthcare.

An alliance between Hennepin Healthcare and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab will build on the legacy of high-quality care and services provided by the inpatient rehabilitation team and related therapies at Hennepin Healthcare.

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab has a long history of patient care, education, and research in physical medicine and rehabilitation. The organization was founded in 1953 and, since 1991, has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the nation’s top rehabilitation hospital.

The alliance will bring Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s extensive expertise, data, and analytics, and world-class training to Hennepin Healthcare. Shirley Ryan AbilityLab will deploy leaders to work directly with Hennepin Healthcare rehabilitation services leadership and frontline clinical care teams. The Hennepin Healthcare rehabilitation team and related inpatient therapy teams and medical staff will remain Hennepin Healthcare employees with no change or interruption in employer affiliation or union status.

“This alliance brings the expertise of the top rehabilitation hospital in the U.S. to patients who come to Hennepin Healthcare from across Minnesota and the region,” said Jennifer DeCubellis, Hennepin Healthcare CEO. “Providing patients the best in rehabilitation medicine and therapies to support them on their journey to get home faster and with optimal mobility is critical and our partnership with Shirley Ryan AbilityLab will make that possible.”

As a teaching and research health care system, Hennepin Healthcare is the right partner for Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s proven approach to improving safety, quality, and access.

“Central to our mission is expanding our reach — locally, nationally and globally — so that patients have access to the best in rehabilitation care within their communities,” said Peggy Kirk, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab president and CEO. “We look forward to sharing our clinical and operating expertise with Hennepin Healthcare as it builds on current success and continues to invest in its quality rehabilitation services.”

# # #

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, is the global leader in physical medicine and rehabilitation for adults and children with the most severe, complex conditions – from traumatic brain and spinal cord injury to stroke, amputation and cancer-related impairment. Anchored by its flagship research hospital in Chicago, the organization operates more than 30 sites of care around Illinois and works with hospitals and healthcare systems around the world.

Hennepin Healthcare is an integrated system of care that includes HCMC, a nationally recognized Level I Adult Trauma Center and Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and acute care teaching hospital and research center in downtown Minneapolis, as well as a clinic system with primary care clinics located in Minneapolis and across Hennepin County. The system is operated by Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc., a subsidiary corporation of Hennepin County.