Patient information

For your convenience, patient information is organized as frequently-asked questions.

Frequently asked questions about overnight stays:

What are the admitting procedures and patient guidelines?
During admission, you will be given a health care consent form that covers important information regarding your stay: consent to treat, responsibility for payment, assignment of benefits, Medicare payment and assignment of benefits, release of medical information, personal belongings and independent physician services. If you wish to receive another copy once you are in your room, your nurse can obtain one for you.

Cell phone policy—Cellular phones may only be used in non-patient care areas such as waiting rooms, main lobby, Courtyard Cafe and the cafeteria. Please be courteous of others while using your cell phone.

Smoking policy—As a place of healing, we are committed to the promotion of the health and wellness of all our patients, visitors, medical staff and associates. Illinois Masonic is a smoke-free campus, which means that smoking is prohibited in all patient rooms, buildings, outdoor areas, entrances, loading docks, parking facilities, and personal vehicles upon entering the medical center. If you would like our assistance in living a smoke-free life, ask your caregiver about services and treatments we offer to help those who want to quit smoking.

Back to top

What should I do with my valuables?
If you bring something of value, and it cannot be sent home, we suggest that you place it in the hospital safe during your stay. Illinois Masonic cannot be responsible for money, jewelry, credit cards or other valuables you choose to keep in your room or on your person. Inform the nurse if you need an item(s) secured or call public safety at 773-296-5300.

If you have valuables in the hospital’s safe, your nurse will give you a gold slip upon discharge. Present this slip at the cashier’s office on the first floor on your way out, and the cashier will give you your belongings.

What are the food service options?

Clinical Dietitian -  

A Clinical Dietitian is assigned to every patient care area. The Clinical Dietitian works closely with both your nurse and physician to see that your individual nutrition needs are met. The Clinical Dietitian can also answer any questions that you may have regarding the special diet that your physician may prescribed for you while you are in the hospital.

Your physician may also want you to follow a special diet at home. The Clinical Dietitian is available to provide you with a personalized diet instruction, menu planning, and lifestyle changes to insure that you have a healthy nutrition plan.

While you are in the hospital, you can contact a Clinical Dietitian by calling 773-975-1600, extension 5910.

After you leave the hospital, you can make an appointment to see a Clinical Dietitian by calling 773-296-7018.

Meals  -  

Your menu will reflect healthy food choices that are consistent with the diet that your physician has prescribed for you. Each morning, a Food and Nutrition Representative from the Department of Food and Nutrition Services will visit you to obtain your meal selection for Lunch. If you are not available at that time, please call the Diet Office at 773-975-1600, extension 5910 so that we may obtain your Lunch selections.

Each afternoon, a Food and Nutrition Representative will return to your room to obtain both your dinner selection and your breakfast selection for the following day. If you are not available at that time, please call the Diet Office at 773-975-1600, extension 5910 to make sure we have your dinner and breakfast selections.

The Courtyard Café is located on the first floor behind the information desk, and is open Monday through Friday 7a.m. to 4:15 p.m. It offers a pleasant environment for meals and snacks, and features Starbucks coffee.

The Rendezvous Cafe, located on the ground floor, is open daily:

Breakfast: 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. (hot breakfast until 10 a.m.)

Lunch: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (hot lunch until 2 p.m.)

Dinner: 4:30 to 7 p.m. (hot food served entire time)

The Main Vending Area is located on the ground floor, on the east side of the building. Visitors may purchase coffee, soft drinks and snacks 24-hours-a-day from this area.

Back to top

What are the amenities and conveniences for patients?
Patient rooms are designed for efficient medical care and safety. Your room was selected on the basis of your medical condition as indicated by your physician. You will receive instructions on how to operate your hospital bed, television, telephone and call light from your admitting nurse.

Your Phone - 

Communication doesn’t stop just because you’re in the hospital! For your convenience, the phone by your bed has a number that family and friends may dial to reach you directly. The direct dial number to your phone is area code 773, followed by 296 plus the four-digit extension number on your phone. Please note that your phone number is not the same as your room number. To provide a peaceful environment for all patients, patient phones cannot receive incoming calls from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Patients are able to make outgoing calls at all times.

Free calling area will include all prefixes in area codes 773, 312, 708, 630 and 847. Calls outside these area codes will be sent to AT&T Operator Assist. Calls outside of free area code will need to be collect, billed to the patient’s home or to a credit card. If you have any question regarding your phone please contact Communications by dialing "0" for Hospital Operator.

Interpreter Services - 

At Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center it is very important to us that you receive all information in the language with which you are most comfortable. Foreign language and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters are available at no cost to the patient 24 hours a day. TTYs/TTD’s, closed captioned TVs and other auxiliary aids and services are available to patients who are deaf or hard of hearing or who have speech impairments.

Deaf-Talk provides services in Spanish through audio/video conferencing, in-person interpreters and by telephone.

For assistance, please ask your nurse or point to your language on the next page to get an interpreter at no cost. For more information, contact Guest Services at extension 61-8230.

Family/Guest Lodging - 

The hospital has four apartments that can be rented for an overnight stay by members of a patient’s family. They are located in the Warren N. Barr Tower, adjacent to the hospital on Nelson Street. These rooms are often booked in advance, but you may check availability by calling Patient Relations at extension 61-8230. Please note that all apartments are non-smoking.

For information regarding area lodging, contact the Chicago Convention and Visitors’ Bureau at 312-567-8500. Due to the frequently changing status of area hotels and motels, the hospital makes no official recommendations for lodging facilities.

Gift Shop - 

The gift shop, located near the Courtyard Café, offers everything from flowers and cards to stuffed animals and clothing items. The gift shop is open from 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Sunday and Holidays from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Please keep in mind that flowers are not allowed in the ICU units.

Business Center - 

The Business Center is located in the Volunteer Office in Suite 1706 to provide a quiet location where visitors may conduct personal business while waiting for a family member to complete a procedure or return from surgery. A computer, phone, fax and copy machine is available. The Business Center’s hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The phone number for the Business Center is 296-7061 (in-house ext. 61-7061, and the fax number is 296-5120. The main phone number for the Volunteer Office is 296-7057 (in-house ext. 61-7057).

Book Cart -  

Volunteers bring the book cart around the hospital several times each week. Contact the volunteer office at extension 61-7057 or Guest Services at extension 61-6220 to request a book or magazine.

Newspapers - 

Newspapers are available for sale. The Chicago Tribune Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal may be delivered to your room by a volunteer. Please call Guest Services at 61-6220 or Volunteer Services at extension 61-7057 if you would like to receive a newspaper.

Notary Public - 

Several hospital associates are notary publics. For more information, contact the Social Work Department at 773-975-1600, extension 5930 during normal business hours 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Legal Document Witness - 

Should you need a witness for a living will or health care power of attorney, contact the office of Mission and Spiritual Care at extension 61-5005. Hospital employees involved in your care, such as a nurse, cannot witness legal documents.

Back to top

Where do I park?
Valet service is available on the ramp at the main entrance of 836 W. Wellington. There are two parking garages—the east garage at Wellington and Halsted, and the west garage at Wellington and the “L” tracks. Parking is charged at an hourly rate. If parking tickets are validated, the cost is $6 for 0 to 2 hours, $12 for 2 to 4 hours, $14 for 4 to 6 hours, and $18 for 6 to 24 hours. Validation may be obtained at the information desk in the main lobby or on the first floor of the Medical Office Center, in the Advocate Illinois Masonic Creticos Cancer Center, in Human Resources in the Center for Education, and in Advocate Illinois Masonic Behavioral Health Services at 938 W. Nelson.

What types of spiritual care services are available?
Chaplains are available to provide spiritual/pastoral care for patients, families and friends, especially during times of crisis, grief or loss. The chaplains are professionally trained and are a vital part of wholistic care.

With your consent, chaplains from mission and spiritual care also can contact your own clergy, congregation, synagogue, mosque or faith community and make arrangements for your religious and spiritual needs including scriptures, communion, anointing or sacrament of the sick, prayer rugs and Sabbath candles. Holy Communion is available to Catholic patients daily. Chaplains also provide information about advance directives (living will and durable power of attorney for health care), and can discuss ethical decision-making and health care issues.

Chaplains are available 24-hours-a-day, seven day a week. You may contact a chaplain by calling the mission and spiritual care office at extension 5005, informing your nurse or by dialing “0” for the operator and requesting the chaplain on-call.

Our chapel is open for prayer and meditation to people of all faiths. The chapel may be used for occasions of worship and memorials. It is open 24 hours a day and is located on the first floor next to the Mission and Spiritual Care Office, room 1211.

Back to top

What services are available for people with special needs?
The services of an interpreter are available to patients free of charge who do not speak or read English. Interpreters are available for many foreign languages; please notify your nurse. Sign language, TTYs and other auxiliary aids and services are available free of charge to people who are deaf or hard of hearing or who have speech impairments.

When someone is hospitalized, everyone involved—the patient, family members, doctors and nurses—wants the patient to receive the best possible care. But if a patient has a very poor outlook for recovering health and/or faces a greatly diminished quality of life, the best course of treatment may not be clear. Sometimes differences in values or communication styles result in conflicts around medical decision making. Patients and families seeking assistance in resolving ethical questions should first discuss any concerns or questions with the attending physician, nursing staff, social worker and/or chaplain. If the patient and/or medical care team needs assistance in addressing an ethical issue, the hospital ethics consultant and ethics committee are available to assist. If you would like the assistance of hospital ethics services, you can ask a member of your health care team to contact the hospital ethicist for you.

Social workers are assigned to each patient care area. They are trained to help patients and their families cope with social and emotional issues related to the illness or hospitalization. They can assist with legal decisions, such as guardianships or durable powers of attorney. They can help arrange services if rehabilitation or long-term care is needed. They also can help make the back home.

Back to top

What are advance directives?
Advance directives (living will, power of attorney for health care):

• Help us make sure that we can carry out our patients’ wishes should they be unable to speak for themselves.
• Required by law to ask our patients if they have advance directives.
  • If they do, we ask for copies of these documents for the patient chart.
  • If they don’t but are interested in learning about advance directives, we contact a chaplain to talk with them.
  • We give all patients written information via the brochure “Your Health Care: Who Decides?”.

Back to top

What are my rights and responsibilities as a patient?
It is your right as an Advocate patient:

• To be informed of your rights.
• To be given care regardless of your race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability or disability, or lifestyle.
• To be given care that respects your individual cultural, psychosocial, spiritual, personal values, beliefs and preferences and which promotes your dignity, privacy, safety and comfort.
• To be given care without verbal, physical, sexual or emotional abuse, annoyance or neglect.
• To be placed in restraints or isolation only when it is medically necessary to improve your well-being, protect you from harm and/or prevent you from harming others and to have you or your family informed.
• To have your pain well managed, and help in developing a plan to manage your pain.
• To be told about the condition of your health, including descriptions of your illness and types of treatment available, their expected results and possible risks, benefits, alternatives and costs, and to be part of your health care decisions.
• To expect that we will talk with you in a way that you can understand.
• To help plan your care and treatment, including making decisions regarding your care. To accept or refuse recommended tests or treatments or request treatment; and to bring up issues of concern about your care with your caregivers.
• To get information and get help with advance directives, so we know what treatment you do or do not want if you can’t tell us yourself. These include a living will, power of attorney for health care (where you pick someone to speak for you) or mental health treatment preference declaration. To expect that your wishes will be followed within the law and the hospital’s ability. To let the hospital appoint a person to make decisions about your care if you have not already picked someone.
• To receive health care that treats the whole person by addressing your spiritual, emotional and physical needs.
• To get information about and access to needed resources and services that protect and help you.
• To be told the name of the doctor or other staff that are responsible for your care.
• To have visitors, mail and telephone services unless you have been informed that there are sound medical or institutional reasons to restrict such access.
• To be told of the risks and benefits of any proposed research or experimental treatment that may be considered in your care, and to agree or disagree to participate.
• To express complaints about the quality of care or service without fear, and to get a prompt and courteous answer to your concerns. The offices of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and Illinois Department of Public Health may be contacted to express your concerns. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare may be contacted at 800-994-6610 and Illinois Department of Public Health can be reached at 800-252-4343 or 800-547-0466 (TTY). You will be provided with information as to how to file a complaint with the hospital and with the state of Illinois.
• To get information contained in your hospital records within a reasonable time after you ask for them and to be certain that other rights concerning your hospital record, as described in the hospital’s Notice of Privacy Practices, will be respected.
• To have your insurance plan billed for your hospital services, and to receive financial counseling. This may include information about any charges that you may have to pay, an explanation of your bill, if you ask for it, or information on available financial assistance.
• To be told how to get financial assistance, if you need it.
• To be told when you are ready to leave the hospital. If you think you are being asked to leave the hospital too soon, you may ask to talk to your caregivers about this.
• To have a family member or a person of your choice, and your doctor, promptly notified that you are in the hospital.
• To understand that medical and personal information will be handled in a private manner.
• To be given care in a safe setting that respects you and maintains your dignity.
• To receive the best and safest care that we can provide.

It is your responsibility as an Advocate patient:

• To provide all personal and family health information needed to give you the best care possible.
• To help make the best decisions about your medical treatment, to follow instructions and to follow your plan of care. To accept and understand what may happen if you do not follow your plan of care.
• To talk to your doctor or other care provider if you desire a transfer of care to another doctor, caregiver or facility.
• To ask questions of your doctor or other care providers when you do not understand information or instructions.
• To show respect and be considerate of others getting and providing care.
• To follow the rules about smoking, noise and the number of visitors.
• To understand that your health care services must be paid for and to work with the hospital on a payment plan, as described in the hospital’s Statement of Patient Billing Rights and Responsibilities.
• To tell your doctor or other hospital staff if you need to apply for financial assistance.

If you have any questions, please contact Patient Relations directly at 773.296.8230.  If you are calling inside the hospital, please dial extension 61-8230.

Back to top

What do I need to know before leaving the hospital?
The time of admission is the time to begin planning for your discharge. Nurse case managers and social workers are available on each patient care unit (where your room is located in the hospital) to help you and your family to plan for the return home. At Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, our goal is for you to have a safe trip home.

If you did not provide updated health insurance and social security information at the time of admission, you must do so before you are discharged from the hospital.

Here’s how you can help us:

• If you have financial or health care questions, we ask that you inform us at the time of admission so a case manager or social worker can address your concerns.
• When you arrive on the patient care unit, please provide the nurse and/or case manager with daytime and evening contact information, and transportation plans for your discharge day. On that day, you should be prepared to leave the hospital within about one hour of when your doctor discharges you.
• If you do not have clothing in the hospital, we ask that you have a family member or friend bring clothing to the hospital for you.
• Be sure to have keys or someone present to receive you at the address or home that you will return to on the day of discharge.
• Please let the nurse know if you have placed your valuables with security, so they can be returned to you when you are discharged.
• Plan to get your prescriptions filled at a pharmacy near your home. Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center does not have an outpatient pharmacy.

If you have any questions about the discharge process, please speak with your nurse and/or social worker.

Back to top

What if I have questions about my bill or insurance?
If there is a question about your insurance coverage, a representative of the billing department will contact you or a member of your family while you are in the hospital. Depending on the type of insurance you have and in order to process your claims, we will need to know:

If you have health insurance
We will need a copy of your health insurance identification card. Depending on the extent of your coverage and deductible requirements, you may be asked to pay a deposit. Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center will submit bills directly to your insurance company and will do everything possible to expedite your claim. For problem free billing, bring insurance claim forms with you at the time of service.

If there is a question about your insurance coverage, a representative of the pre-registration or billing or department may contact you or a member of your family while you are here. Depending on the type of insurance you have, we will need the following information to be able to process your claims.

If you are a member of an HMO or PPO
It is your responsibility to make sure the requirements of your plan have been met, including appropriate pre-certification for your admission or authorization from your primary care physician. If your plan’s requirements are not followed, you may be financially responsible for all or part of the services rendered in the hospital. Some physician specialists may not participate in your plan and their services may not be covered. HMOs and PPOs do not pay for a private room unless it is medically necessary.

If you are covered by Medicare
We will need a copy of your Medicare card to verify eligibility and process your Medicare claim. You should be aware that the Medicare program specifically excludes payment for certain items and services such as cosmetic surgery, some oral surgery procedures, personal comfort items, hearing evaluations, a private room unless medically necessary and others. You are responsible for any deductibles and co-insurance payments after Medicare pays.

If you are covered by Medicaid
We will need a copy of your Medicaid card. Medicaid does not pay for the cost of a private room unless medically necesary.  Medicaid also has payment limitations on the number of services and items. Medicaid does not pay for the cost of a private room unless medically necessary.

If you are covered by Workers' Compensation
We will need written authorization from your employer or your employer’s worker’s compensation carrier. Accounts must be verified by the business office in order to bill your employer. You are responsible for all accounts that cannot be verified or any unpaid balances. A letter from your attorney is not acceptable verification.

If you are covered by Other Medical Insurance
If you have secondary insurance or other supplemental coverage, we will need copies of all current insurance cards. Illinois Masonic bills all primary and secondary insurances agencies directly, except prescription drugs. You will be billed for any unpaid non-covered items, deductibles or co-insurance after your insurance pays. If payment from your insurance company is not received within 60 days of billing, you may be responsible for the entire charge.

If you do not have insurance
If an insurance or other payment plan is not covering health care services, payment is due at time of service. Legal cases are treated as self-pay and patients are required to pay for services. If you need financial assistance to pay for all or a portion of your bill, a financial counselor will talk to you about payment alternatives that may be available including extended payments, government programs or charity care assistance.

Back to top

What if I have a complaint, concern or comment?
We realize patients, their family members or visiting friends may experience problems or have concerns regarding a hospital stay. If for some reason your stay and care have not met your expectations, ask to speak with the manager of the unit or department caring for you. If he or she is unable to help you, please call a patient relations representative at 773-296-8230.

In an effort to continue providing excellent customer service, in approximately two weeks after you are discharged from the hospital, you will be receiving a “patient satisfaction survey.” We would appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete and return the survey. Our goal is to ensure that we are meeting your expect actions while you are in our care. In particular, we are very interested in specific areas that patients have told us are important.

We hope that you will be able to answer the questions with “Always” or “Very Goods.” Our Director of Patient & Concierge Services is very interested in your feedback, and we would like very much to be able to congratulate the staff and tell them they made a difference in your care. However, if you cannot answer “Very Good” to these questions, we would like to better understand your needs and concerns. Please call 773-296-8231 to make arrangements for him to speak with you personally so that we can share this feedback with our staff.

Back to top