While I do not know how the City of Chicago rankings are done, I doubt more research would boost those. Helping make people more aware of some of the excellent care given at the hospitals may increase patients and revenues. Increased resources may enhance research productivity. I am not so much disputing there is a problem as suggesting a small way of alleviating it.
The leaders of organizations influence their level of success. There is plenty of business research (some of which has been done at Booth) demonstrating that corporate CEO’s influence their company’s profitability. Maybe that is a place to look regarding the medical center. Also, changes in the population the hospital serves may be causing economic stresses to the hospital. Why not call the office of the president of the medical to get their take on this? They would know more than posters on this website.
Here is a link to the web page of the president of the medical center. It has her e-mail and phone number. I don’t know for sure, but I bet she will respond if you tell her about the cogent observations made on this thread and ask her opinion.