OSF HealthCare’s Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center has generated $180 million in economic impact since opening its doors a decade ago, the health system announced last week. [Health News Illinois]

A study, worked on by OSF and Bradley University, also found the facility has created more than 1,000 jobs throughout central Illinois.

Additionally, the health system highlighted achievements from the center, such as a smart mirror that reads patient vital signs and 3D printing and virtual reality for presurgical planning.

All of that helps better deliver care to patients, Dr. John Vozenilek, vice president and chief medical officer for innovation at OSF HealthCare, told Health News Illinois ahead of the report’s release.

“There's a great advantage, especially to OSF, if we can apply these techniques for good purpose for health and wellness, to flip the access curve — no longer relying on the patient to knock on our door to gain access to healthcare — but us reaching out more in anticipation of needs,” he said.

Chris Setti, Peoria Economic Development Commission CEO, said the center has not yet approached its full potential. A goal, he said, is for Peoria and healthcare innovation to become as synonymous as Rochester, Minn. and the Mayo Clinic.

“That's what OSF is building, in large part because of what Jump has done,” he said.

Vozenilek said they continue to partner with providers and institutes of higher learning like the University of Illinois on grants to further develop new technologies, with collaborations occurring either at the center or by filling “trucks with equipment” to work with smaller communities and rural hospitals and train workers there.

“We show them the technologies and we show them how we support and provide infrastructure for people with great ideas across disciplines,” Vozenilek said of the collaborations. “And when we try to recruit individuals to come to Peoria, and they can see all of this happening and all of the value and all the opportunity — boy I'll tell you what, the conversation gets quite sweet.”

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