Warren hospital hopes affliation with AHN aids improvements

Warren General Hospital is affiliating with Highmark Health, Allegheny Health Network and Lecom Health, gaining money for capital improvements while retaining local control of the hospital.

The value of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, was still being negotiated, but Warren General Hospital President and CEO Rick Allen said it will include cash to modernize the hospital’s maternity unit, radiation oncology equipment and other capital improvements. The hospital’s board will continue to have local control, he said.

“A number of independent hospitals will be very interested in this model,” said Mr. Allen, who was

born at Warren General. “A lot of organizations will find it beneficial.”

Small and rural hospitals nationwide are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit medical specialists and afford the latest medical scanners and technology. Faced with these issues, a number of smaller hospitals in the Harrisburg area recently were acquired by UPMC, which has offered debt relief, doctors and money for improvements to the smaller systems.

“There is a long queue of health care providers who would like to join us,” UPMC President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff said Nov. 3 in announcing plans for three specialty hospitals to be built in Pittsburgh.

After operating in the red for 10 years, Warren’s board of directors decided to advertise for a partner and received inquiries from Highmark, Allegheny Health Network, Lecom, an Erie-based health system, and UPMC, Mr. Allen said. UPMC’s offer was rejected and Highmark, AHN and Lecom collaborated in partnering with WarrenGeneral.

“It’s a big, big deal,” Mr. Allen said.

Warren General, Warren County’s only hospital, was founded in 1900 and has 89 beds. Erie-based Lecom Health operates hospitals and other medical facilities and also a medical school, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Warren General is about 2.5 hours northeast of Pittsburgh and 18 miles from UPMC Chautauqua WCA, a hospital located in Jamestown, N.Y., which was acquired by UPMC in 2016, and about 21 miles from Kane Community Hospital in Kane, Pa., which affiliated with UPMC Hamot in April.

Highmark and UPMC are rival health insurance and health systems based in Pittsburgh.