Apr 21, 2019 3 min read

While it is certainly unsettling to learn that Fayette County’s largest employer is currently navigating troubling waters, we tend to believe a strong track record of weathering storms will help Uniontown Hospital find calmer seas again.

Early this year, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) informed Uniontown Hospital that it wanted to end its eight-year partnership regarding physician-related services. Following the news, Uniontown Hospital CEO Steve Handy announced that the Fayette County hospital was exploring a relationship with West Virginia University Health System (WVUHS) in an effort to strengthen both entities. The move will undoubtedly help mend the broken pieces for the local community hospital left behind by UPMC’s sudden departure.

But earlier this month, Handy sent a memo to his hospital personnel informing them, essentially, that WVUHS wasn’t ready, and couldn’t immediately step in and pick up where UPMC left off, and that hurdle could leave the Uniontown Hospital vulnerable for some time to “destabilization” as officials there determine a course of action to support a local physical network until a new alignment is firmed up.

“Going through a divorce is emotionally draining and financially devastating,” Handy said in the memo.

At first, the news can be somewhat bothersome, but we must recall that this isn’t the first time Uniontown Hospital has overcome hardship.

In August of 2013, officials at Uniontown Hospital announced that four departments within the facility would be closed. By the end of that year, the hospital’s progressive care center, behavioral health unit, outpatient rehabilitation services and diabetes center were phased out. Officials at the time said the need for change was realized as they prepared for a fiscal budget, and knew the deficit was unsustainable. It was a bumpy ride, but the hospital restructured their plan.

The result, according to a financial analysis of Pennsylvania hospitals by the state’s Health Care Cost Containment Council, was $129 million in revenue for patient care in 2017. This is a clear indication that while UPMC’s departure certainly shakes things up, we have strong leadership in our community hospital that can put the facility back on solid ground again.

We are hopeful that Uniontown Hospital and West Virginia University Health System will continue moving forward to develop an alignment in a time frame that makes the transition less financially burdensome.

Moreso, we are optimistic that officials at Uniontown Hospital will once again use this opportunity to make decisions that will move health care in Fayette County further ahead while remaining in the best interest of employees, patients and the community as a whole.