Why did Northwestern land at the top of Chicago’s list—and why should you choose it to handle your next health crisis? Here’s one reason: “They pair strong primary care with great specialty care,” says David Burik, the managing director for the health care strategy division at Chicago-based Navigant Consulting, which advises hospitals and other businesses.

The quality of that care rests squarely on the shoulders of its first-rate physicians. They include Patrick McCarthy, a heart surgeon recruited from the Cleveland Clinic who now runs the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern. The hospital also hosts an outstanding women’s center—the new and improved Prentice—and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Its academic wing provides access to the latest medical research (such as an ALS breakthrough made in 2010 by the neurologist Teepu Siddique), and it’s got some great neighbors: the world-renowned Rehabilitation Institute and the new Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital.

With its roots going back to 1837—the year Chicago was incorporated—Rush claims several city firsts: the first cardiac catheterization lab, the first MRI scanner, and the first successful heart transplant. Today, the medical center is still celebrated for its cardiovascular care, and its Heart Center for Women, led by Dr. Annabelle Volgman, has won praise for its gender-specific expertise. Rush is also well known for its Alzheimer’s center and its Parkinson’s and orthopedic programs (doctors from Rush are team physicians for the Bulls and the White Sox).

In late 2011, Rush opened a new 14-story hospital building with larger operating rooms and a distinctive butterfly shape that provides clear sightlines from nursing stations to each patient’s room. The new emergency center, equipped to deal with disastrous cases of chemical contamination or infectious outbreak, is tied into the city’s 911 center and trauma network. And last year, this teaching hospital approved more than 700 new research projects to augment the 1,000-plus already underway.

A strong teaching and research hospital—second only to Stanford University School of Medicine in the dollar amount of grants per faculty member ($328,000 in 2011) from the National Institutes of Health—University of Chicago Medicine is on the verge of a new era. “They have always had a great tradition of subspecialty expertise, and now they’re marrying that with a state-of-the-art facility,” says the hospital consultant David Burik.

That facility would be the new $700 million Center for Care and Discovery, slated to open in February. It will feature 240 private rooms and an emphasis on flexibility that will, say, allow an interventional cardiology suite to morph into an operating room for open-heart surgery—all without having to move the patient.

South Side residents from across the socioeconomic spectrum—as well as visitors from around the world—are already being served by the Comprehensive Cancer Center (which emphasizes prevention, early detection, and targeted therapies) and the seven-year-old Comer Children’s Hospital.

A fixture of the south suburbs for more than 50 years, Christ Medical—another teaching hospital—is home to the Heart and Vascular Institute, which features top doctors and modern technologies for treating coronary artery disease, heart rhythm problems, and other critical illnesses.

Christ Medical has also won high praise for its geriatric program, which promotes an independent lifestyle for the elderly. At the other end of the age spectrum, Hope Children’s Hospital, which shares the Oak Lawn campus, excels at juvenile heart and cancer care. Last October, it merged with the pediatric hospital at Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge. Now known as Advocate Children’s Hospital, it offers access to more than 400 pediatricians and 230 subspecialists.

Loyola deserves its reputation as a standout in cardiac care—and not just on the clinical side. Over the years, the American Heart Association alone has awarded the medical center more than $10 million for research into ways, as the AHA puts it, “to build lives free of cardiovascular disease.”

But hearts are far from Loyola’s only area of expertise. Last May, for the fourth year in a row, the American Stroke Association honored the medical center for its multidisciplinary approach to treating that often-fatal affliction.

You will find help, too, dealing with other serious health problems: Dr. Pauline Camacho, leader of the Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Disease Center, coauthored the national guidelines for diagnosing and treating osteoporosis. And last spring, the American College of Surgeons honored the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center for its “outstanding” oncologic care.

A high performer in cancer and urologic care, this inner-city medical center also stands out as a socially conscious institution. “Part of our mission is the elimination of health disparities,” says Dr. Joe G. N. “Skip” Garcia, vice president for health affairs at the hospital (he’s also a leader in the treatment of and research into lung disorders).

Looking for ways to reduce deaths from preventable medical errors, in 2006 two doctors—David Mayer and Timothy McDonald—established the Institute for Patient Safety Excellence. With help from a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the innovative program, which uses games, role-playing, and simulation exercises to teach teamwork and communication skills, now serves as a model for medical schools nationwide.

Evanston Hospital anchors the NorthShore University HealthSystem (which also includes Glenbrook, Highland Park, and Skokie Hospitals). That means when you choose it to address your medical problems, you will find yourself with access not just to the primary care and specialty physicians at Evanston but to each of the 800-plus doctors who work for the health system. “NorthShore is able to recruit great physicians,” says the hospital consultant David Burik, explaining one of its strengths.

Evanston also pairs with the University of Chicago to teach medical students and spur academic research, and last fall it announced a partnership with the Mayo Clinic. That doesn’t mean you have to travel to Minnesota for a consultation. Instead, teams of doctors at both places review electronic medical records together, so in most cases you remain close to home.

Unlike the seven medical institutions ranked above it on Chicago’s list, Central DuPage (part of the Cadence Health System) is not a teaching hospital. No problem, says Dr. David Cooke, Cadence’s vice president of quality and safety. “Our attitude is we’re going to have to prove ourselves, and we’re happy to do that.”

Part of the proof shows up on the tech side—an array of facilities you might expect to find only at Central’s big-name counterparts downtown: electronic medical records, 64-slice computer tomography, the minimally invasive da Vinci robotic surgical system, and proton radiation therapy.

To better treat kids, Central partners with physicians from Lurie’s Children’s Hospital, who make the drive out from Chicago so the little ones can stay close to home. And staff consult with the Cleveland Clinic on complicated heart and cancer cases. “They’re tremendously generous with their intellectual capital,” says Cooke.

If you are a woman living in the northwest suburbs, you may find yourself drawn to Lutheran General for different reasons. Its Center for Fetal Care treats expectant mothers who have hypertension, heart disease, or diabetes; its perinatologists deal with high-risk pregnancies where a fetus may have a serious medical condition. The Caldwell Breast Center was the first hospital in the Midwest to offer 3-D mammography, and it has advanced treatments—including accelerated partial breast radiation therapy—to eradicate cancer and stop it from returning.

As for women and men seeking minimally invasive procedures: Specialists provide a range of robotic surgeries, with an emphasis on uterine, prostate, and colorectal care.

If you think spirituality is a key ingredient to recovering from illness, you may want to make a pilgrimage to this northwest suburban hospital, part of the Alexian Brothers Health System. A Catholic organization, it goes out of its way to work with patients of all faiths. That doesn’t mean Alexian neglects its medical responsibilities. “It is really focused on getting its primary care physicians in place,” says the health care consultant David Burik. “That’s always been a hallmark of the hospital.”

Also on the Hoffman Estates campus: a rehabilitation hospital with inpatient and outpatient services and a behavioral health hospital, which offers help with autism, addiction, and eating disorders. Coming this summer: a 16-bed end-of-life hospice that will allow patients to die with dignity.

In 2011, this Will County medical center was a founding member of the 12-hospital Presence Health group—which means its reach, and potential for collaborative care, extend into nearly every part of the Chicago metro area. But according to Navigant’s David Burik, the hospital already has a very complete medical staff. “They have strong subspecialties”—in cancer, neurology, and orthopedics, among other disciplines—“to serve the far south suburbs,” he says.

And if you are a Joliet resident concerned about diminished health care since Silver Cross Hospital decamped for New Lenox last February, stop worrying, says Burik. “Presence St. Joseph has a huge task confronting it [with that potentially larger patient load], but they have the doctors and the capacity to make it work.”

Though it’s part of Advocate Health Care, you may find that Illinois Masonic has the feel of an old-fashioned community hospital—only the community it serves is the bustling Lake View neighborhood, and its services and facilities are state of the art. Sure, it offers an alternative birthing center and one of the city’s oldest nurse-midwifery programs. But it’s also home to a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, which means it’s prepared to handle the riskiest pregnancies and the sickest babies.

And then there’s this: Illinois Masonic is one of Chicago’s four Level I trauma centers, ready for