Banner University Medical Center Tucson

Banner - University Medical Center Tucson (BUMCT), formerly University Medical Center and the University of Arizona Medical Center, is a private, non-profit, 487-bed acute-care hospital located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. BUMCT is part of the Arizona Health Sciences Center (AHSC) campus which includes the university's Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health. It is Southern Arizona's only Level I Trauma Center. BUMCT is one of two University of Arizona affiliated academic medical centers in Tucson with Banner - University Medical Center South (formerly Kino Community Hospital, University Physicians Healthcare Hospital, and University of Arizona Medical Center - South Campus) being the other such institution.

When founded in 1971, the hospital was part of the University of Arizona. In the 1980s, it became a separate entity but, in 2010, was reintegrated into the University of Arizona under the name UA Health Network (UAHN). The 2011 name change to the University of Arizona Medical Center (UAMC) reflected the need to combine all University of Arizona affiliated medical services: University Medical Center, University Physicians Healthcare, and the College of Medicine. In 2015, Banner Health based out of Phoenix, Arizona merged with UAHN and began a 30 year affiliation with the University of Arizona in which the facility was renamed to its present designation.

New facility

As part of the merger between UAHN and Banner Health, the latter committed $500 million towards the construction of a new hospital and nearby outpatient clinic building. Construction commenced in early 2016 and the new $400 million dollar hospital tower is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2019.

Notable events

On January 8, 2011 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in an assignation attempt. Giffords had been critically wounded having suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. She and several others who were wounded were promptly evacuated by helicopter to this facility. Giffords underwent emergency surgery to save her life and many attribute Giffords survival to the swift actions of the university's doctors. After her condition improved, doctors deemed her safe to travel so that she could begin speech, physical, and occupational therapy. Giffords was flown by plane to Houston's Memorial Hermann Medical Center on January 21, 2011 to continue therapy.

Accreditation

• BUMCT is accredited by Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) and the Council of Teaching Hospitals.
• BUMCT is an American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Hospital.
• The hospital specializes in numerous categories (see Best Hospital listings below) including cardiothoracic and multidisciplinary transplant programs and the artificial heart, which is used as a bridge-to-transplant for patients awaiting a suitable organ. BUMC blood and marrow transplant programs are among the best in the Southwest.

Specialty centers of excellence

• Arizona Arthritis Center
• Arizona Cancer Center
  

  Arizona Cancer Center - Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Clinic
• Arizona Center on Aging
• Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center
• Arizona Respiratory Center
• Steele Children's Research Center
• The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center
• Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis)

Among the physicians credentialed at BUMC is Dr. Andrew Weil and his Program in Integrative Medicine, located on BUMC's 6th floor. Adjacent and interrelated to BUMC is the Arizona Cancer Center, an NCI cancer research and treatment facility. Besides the hospital, BUMC operates two hospital-based physician offices in Tucson, one hospital-based physician office in Green Valley, Arizona, and one medical transplant physician office in Phoenix (for pre- and post-transplant patients).

Recognition

• Since 2005, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson has been listed as one of Solucient's Top 100 Hospitals.
• BUMC Tucson has been consistently ranked among the United States' best hospitals, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual guide to "America’s Best Hospitals."
• HealthGrades, a healthcare rating company, has found BUMC to be one of the best hospitals in Coronary Intervention.

External links

• Official website