Uniontown Hospital establishing relationship with WVU Medicine
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
Uniontown Hospital
Handy
Uniontown Hospital officials announced Wednesday they are in discussions with representatives from WVU Health System to form a new relationship that will strengthen their combined services for residents in and around Fayette County.
“We are in the process of establishing a relationship with WVU Medicine regarding a broad range of services,” Uniontown Hospital CEO Steve Handy said. “We have been impressed by WVU Medicine’s clinical growth and expansion. It was easy to recognize the value for our community to partner with such a great organization. WVU Medicine has expressed an interest in helping us meet the healthcare needs of our community. This was an offer that we have welcomed and embraced. The potential for expanded local access to healthcare in our community is exciting.”
While the specific parameters of the relationship are still being finalized, Handy said hospital leaders recognized the benefits of creating a partnership with WVU Medicine, noting the proximity of their hospitals in Morgantown to Uniontown. A trip from Uniontown to Morgantown is roughly half of the distance of one from Uniontown to Pittsburgh.
“We’re excited to explore with Uniontown Hospital ways we can partner and collaborate to serve better the people of Fayette County and the surrounding area. Our shared goal is to utilize our respective strengths to ensure people have better and more convenient access to advanced specialty care,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO, West Virginia University Health System, said.
WVU Medicine, which operates Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., along with a number of affiliated hospitals and clinics in West Virginia, has been moving north into Pennsylvania recently.
Construction began in May on a 24,300-square-foot building near Waynesburg that will offer primary care services and house clinics in family medicine, diagnostic imaging, cardiovascular care, orthopedics, obstetrics, gynecology and urgent care. The clinic also will have the potential to expand to meet any of the community’s additional needs.
Handy said that the hospital maintains a solid relationship with UPMC and will continue partnerships in some aspects of care. Uniontown Hospital will also continue to accept UPMC, Aetna and most Highmark plans as part of this change.
“This move will be all about what is best for our patients and for the community we serve,” Handy said. “Our decisions are never just about the bottom line or the short term, but what options are available to us to provide the best care and sustain that level of care long term.”
Last fall, Uniontown Hospital was awarded a nearly $27 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to move forward with a major campus renovation that includes the construction of a three-story parking garage, a new patient and visitor entrance and other enhancements at the acute care facility.