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Contact Us

In case of a medical emergency, call 911 immediately.

Physician Referral Hotline

If you need a doctor, call our Physician Referral Hotline at 708-226-2300.

Palos Health Numbers You Need

Email Contacts

Our hospital staff members check email only on weekdays. For urgent or time-sensitive matters, call the appropriate hospital service at the numbers shown above.

Although we welcome all inquiries, several types of information—medical advice, patient details and personal medical information—cannot be provided via email.

For comments about our website, send a message to webmaster@paloscomm.org

Media Requests

To respect the privacy of our patients and families, media visits and requests for interviews must be authorized and coordinated by Palos Health's Public Relations Department. To make arrangements, call us Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 708-923-4740.

Media Inquiries After Hours

After regular business hours, contact the Palos Health Director of Nursing Services at 708-923-4000.

Vendors

The information below is provided to make your job easier while you work with Palos Health. As a vendor, you’re responsible for staying current with hospital policies and procedures as we work together to increase efficiency and provide better service to our patients and physicians. We respectfully request and expect your complete and consistent cooperation with these guidelines. For additional information, contact our purchasing manager at 708-923-4000.

If you prefer, you can download a copy of our Vendor Badging Sign-Up [PDF] form.

Surgical Suite & Procedure Room Sales

REPTRAX Vendor Credentialing:

All sales and service representatives must check-in at a Reptrax system located in the hospital lobby or receiving dock. To be in compliance, reps must print ID badge and proceed to the Information Desk for confirmed appointment. When leaving the facility, reps must check-out at a Reptrax system.

Guidelines for Introducing Services, Supplies or Equipment into Procedural Areas and the Surgical Suite

  1. All requests for entrance of new services, supplies or equipment to procedural areas or the surgical suite must secure written authorization through the Palos Hospital Capital Equipment and New Technology Request process and receive approval prior to scheduling the procedure. Please allow a minimum of 2 to 3 weeks for review.
  1. It is the vendor representative and physician’s responsibility to utilize only products that are FDA approved. It is the physician’s responsibility to provide full disclosure and obtain informed patient consent for any FDA-approved product that is being utilized for an “off-label” use. The exception would be a supply or equipment that is being used as part of a Palos Hospital-approved clinical trial in which case the Capital Equipment and New Technology Request process must be followed including disclosure that it is part of a clinical trial and the informed consent must be present on the patient’s hospital chart prior to the start of the procedure.

Obtaining Access to a Procedural Area or the Surgical Suite

  1. Requests that a vendor representative have access to a procedural area or the surgical suite must be made by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant on staff at Palos Hospital and will need to be approved by the Leadership Team of the area or the assistant vice president of Nursing.

  2. All approved vendor representatives must have a Palos Hospital identification (ID) badge reader card which can be obtained through the Public Safety department. The Palos Hospital ID must be worn and easily visible at all times.

  3. All vendor representatives entering a procedural area or the surgical suite are required to check in with the charge person in that area and to wear clean/unsoiled Palos Hospital surgical scrubs, red hair covers, enclosed shoes, shoe covers and a disposable high filtration mask that covers the nose and mouth completely.

  4. When present in a procedural area or the surgical suite, the vendor representative must coordinate his/her activities/responsibilities with the RN circulator.

  5. Vendor representatives are not allowed to participate in direct patient care activities and are not allowed to open sterile supplies onto the sterile field.

  6. Vendor representatives with specialized training may perform remote calibration to the attending physician’s specifications or instructions, under the direction of the attending physician with the verification of the RN circulator.

  7. Vendor representatives are not allowed to solicit physicians to utilize products while in a procedural area or the surgical suite. Vendor representatives will provide product information and support only at the physician’s request.

Any vendor representative who brings a supply or equipment into Palos Hospital without proper authorization/approval will consider all such items as a no cost contribution to the hospital.

Bringing Supplies or Equipment into Palos Hospital for a Surgical Case

  1. All equipment or supplies must be in Sterile Supply Processing (SSP) no later than 24 hours before the scheduled case.
  1. All instrumentation and trays should be brought simultaneously and each should be labeled with the surgeon’s name, patient’s name, procedure and the date of the procedure.
  1. The vendor representative is responsible for removing all trays, unused implants or supplies from SSP within 24 hours after completion of the case and appropriate decontamination.
  1. Storage of instrumentation or trays for future cases will be at the discretion of the manager of SSP.
  1. Please note that Palos Hospital will not reimburse freight charges or delivery-type fees for rental/loaners associated with borrowed instruments, implants, surgical suite equipment, and disposables.
  1. Palos Hospital will not reimburse vendor for equipment damaged or broken during the routine course of a procedure unless the damage is due to gross abuse or negligence on the part of a Palos Hospital employee and the vendor provides written documentation of such.

General Sales

Interviews

The Purchasing Department is the initial contact point for sales representatives and service technicians at 708-923-4180.

All requests for entrance of medical services, supplies or equipment to areas other than the surgical suite or procedural areas must secure written authorization through the Product Evaluation and Standardization

Committee Product Review Request Form

Purchasing will coordinate appointments for departments as required. Confirmed appointments must be arranged prior to arrival at the hospital. Upon arrival, proceed to the lobby Information Desk to register and receive permission to proceed to the department with a written Sales Pass to visit only the designated area stated on the pass.

Upon departure, return the Sales Pass to the lobby Information Desk.

Quotations

All written quotations should be sent to the Purchasing Department for review and should include specifications and brochures, services, term and expiration, GPO, and latex or hazard content.

Purchase Orders

All orders for equipment, services or supplies must have been authorized on an official purchase order by the Purchasing Department to receive payment. No order should be accepted from any hospital employee without a purchase order. We do not accept C.O.D. shipments.

Cell Phones

Please restrict the use of your cell phone to the lobby or designated locations away from clinical equipment and patients.

Invoices

We require payment terms of Net 30 and it is our practice to pay invoices promptly to secure favorable discount terms. Invoices will be paid more quickly if the correct purchase order number appears on the invoice. Palos Hospital is tax exempt and will furnish a copy of IRS form W-9 upon request.

Deliveries

All deliveries are to be made to the Receiving Department dock between the 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. A packing slip referencing the purchase order number must accompany each shipment.

Corporate Compliance & HIPAA

Corporate Compliance

Palos Health prohibits business relationships with vendors or any health care providers listed in the Office of Inspector General’s Medicare and Medicaid cumulative sanction reports published by the Department of Health and Human Services. Palos Health also prohibits business relationships with vendors or any health care providers listed on the Illinois Department of Public Aid Medicaid sanctions list or the General Services Administration list of debarred contractors. Palos Hospital’s knowledge of any vendor or health care provider listed on the aforementioned reports will result in immediate termination of business relations. Business relations may resume at the discretion of Palos Hospital, upon corrective action by the vendor/ health care provider and removal from the aforementioned reports.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Palos Hospital supports all patient privacy components of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Consistent with these standards, vendors are prohibited from using confidential patient information in any way other than what has been expressly agreed upon with Palos Hospital. Vendors may be asked to sign a Business Associate Agreement stating compliance with HIPAA guidelines.