Washington Health System officially joins UPMC

WASHINGTON, Pa. — Washington Health System is officially a part of UPMC, becoming UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene.

Around a year after announcing an affiliation agreement between WHS and UPMC, the agreement became official, according to a news release.

“We are elated that the affiliation is complete and look forward to starting a new chapter of collaboration with UPMC,” said Brook Ward, president of UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene. “This affiliation protects the vitality of an essential community asset and solidifies a healthy future for Washington and Greene counties for generations to come.”

This announcement comes days after Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry reached an agreement with UPMC that preserves affordable access to health care in Washington and Green Counties.

>>> Pennsylvania AG reaches agreement with UPMC, advancing acquisition of Washington Hospital

UPMC says it’s committed to investing at least $300 million over 10 years to enhance clinical services and upgrade facilities at UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene. These upgrades, along with contributions from the WHS foundation, reportedly ensure that UPMC Washington and UPMC Green can provide state-of-the-art health care to residents for years to come and maintain its position as one of the largest employers in the two counties.

“UPMC has a long, successful track record of affiliations with like-minded organizations. We know how essential these hospitals are to this region to preserve needed health care services and livelihoods of thousands touched by them, and we are thrilled to welcome UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene to UPMC,” said Leslie C. Davis, president and CEO of UPMC.

UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene will maintain a local Board of Directors consisting of 11 legacy WHS board members and five newly appointed members from UPMC.

UPMC says this affiliation does not affect community members’ in-network access to WHS hospitals or doctors as it’s honoring contracts already in place with insurers.

Washington Health Workers released a statement promising to hold UPMC accountable to the promises it made. The full statement reads:

“We are Washington Health System workers who are deeply dedicated to protecting quality patient care and good jobs for our community. We take great pride in Washington Health, which is absolutely essential for the economy and future of our entire area. That’s why we advocated powerfully, along with our coalition partners, for the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance that UPMC has agreed to as a condition for approval of its takeover of Washington Health. While that agreement has important protections, it should have done more to guarantee our facilities will remain open and no jobs or services will be cut. We are united to hold UPMC accountable to abide by the agreement as well as honor the promises that have been made to our community to invest $300 million and maintain all services, insurance plan access, jobs and union contract standards.

“The healthcare workforce is already struggling with a severe staffing crisis, the lingering effects of the pandemic, turnover, burnout and inflation. Any cuts – such as the service terminations, closures, layoffs and pay reductions that UPMC has carried out across its system – would be devastating to Washington. UPMC must instead, as promised, invest significant resources in our workforce and the care we deliver.

“Because UPMC has consistently gone back on its word with takeovers of other local hospitals, and the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance does not include monitoring and reporting requirements, we want to memorialize the commitments about the merger which have been made to our community that: it will ‘greatly expand the availability of health services’; ‘access to care will not be interrupted, regardless of patient insurance plans’; collective bargaining agreements will ‘stay in place’ and UPMC will engage in ‘good faith bargaining’; employee benefits will ‘meet or exceed those that they receive through WHS; ‘any previous Washington Hospital employee who is currently collecting a pension…will be unaffected’; for non-union workers, base pay will not be reduced; and there will be ‘no’ job cuts.

“We look forward to continuing to work with our allies to hold UPMC accountable: Allegheny County Schools Health Insurance Consortium (ACSHIC), Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN), Debt Collective, PA United, Washington-Greene Central Labor Council, PA AFL-CIO, United Steel Workers, Pennsylvania State Education Association, United Food and Commercial Workers, SEIU 32BJ and the hundreds of patients, families and neighbors who took action.

“The members of our union, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, are headed into contract negotiations at the end of this year. We expect UPMC to recognize our union, respect our contract and engage in good faith negotiations. We are 100% determined to win a strong contract and continue advocating for quality care and good jobs with a voice at Washington Health.”

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