Community Corner

Highmark and WPAHS Announce Affiliation to Provide Health Care Services

Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville and Canonsburg General Hospital will benefit from Highmark grants.

Highmark Inc. and the West Penn Allegheny Health System plan to affiliate to maintain the health system as an affordable choice for health care services and continue to provide community access for health care.

“Today is an important first step to ensuring the continued viability of the West Penn Allegheny Health System and a choice of health care services in our region,” Kenneth R. Melani, M.D., Highmark’s president and chief executive officer, said during a news conference to announce the affiliation. “We are preserving a vital not-for-profit community asset.”

Highmark is immediately providing a $50 million grant to West Penn Allegheny, enabling the health system to sustain and strengthen its West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield and Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville, while assuring the continued delivery of quality medical services by the entire system, including Canonsburg General Hospital in Washington County.

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Melani said that these hospitals are important to the people in neighborhood communities, surrounding businesses and suppliers. The management and boards of directors of Highmark and WPAHS will continue discussions in the weeks ahead to finalize a definitive agreement. 

“It’s important to have a second (health care) system and have options,” Melani said, in reference to UPMC, the largest health care provider in the region. “For consumers, we want to preserve their choices. For physicians and other health care providers, we want to ensure multiple patient referral options. This affiliation will help preserve those very options.”

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Highmark is making a $475 million commitment over four years that will include $75 million to fund scholarships for students attending medical schools affiliated with WPAHS and to support other health professional education programs. The health system is joining with Temple University in Philadelphia to start a four-year medical school in Pittsburgh, Melani said.

The $75 million for scholarships for medical school students and other educational programs will address the shortage of physicians in the region and help West Penn Allegheny retain doctors to serve the community.

“West Penn Allegheny has been recognized nationally for its leading doctors and nurses who provide high-quality, personalized care; however, there is no doubt that we have lacked the capital necessary to deliver on our full potential,” said David L. McClenahan, West Penn Allegheny’s chairman of the board. “We share a common goal with Highmark to focus on the patient experience, improve health care and ensure choice for both those seeking care and those seeking employment in the health care sector in our region.”

The planned affiliation of Highmark and the West Penn Allegheny Health System is the first step in a broader Highmark effort to develop alternative health care options that offer high-quality care at a lower price and more coordinated and patient-driven delivery of medical care. 

 “It is critical to the economic and financial health of the community that western Pennsylvanians have a choice of health care providers and that we preserve strong and valuable community institutions like the West Penn Allegheny Health System,” Melani said.


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