The mayor chirps in a tweet
Finally, Bill Peduto breaks his shameful silence on an issue he should be squawking about
To say I was incredulous is an understatement. I found in my inbox early Tuesday an email directing my attention to a tweet from the generally loquacious Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on a topic about which he has been uncharacteristically reticent: UPMC.
The mayor had replied to a tweet from state Sen. Jay Costa, who has been breaking a sweat in his constant and continuing scramble to whip up support for legislative initiatives that would compel UPMC to deal with its nemesis Highmark/Allegheny Health Network before the June 30 expiration of abnormal business as usual between the health care giants.
Here is what the mayor wrote: “Thank you, Senator Costa. There is a legislative solution that could end the UPMC/Highmark war. Why won’t Republican leadership let it be voted on? Why has @PitttsburghPG ignored the most obvious solution?”
I don’t know what torqued me most, there’s so much to pick from:
• The mayor’s Johnny-comelately timing for doling out a rare public comment, even as the hourglass empties on a June 30 consent decree deadline. Where has the mayor been as Mr. Costa and other state lawmakers worked feverishly for months to move the legislative needle? He wasn’t at a Harrisburg rally during which petitions signed by thousands were delivered by Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner. He wasn’t at the only public meeting held by a UPMC board in which members of the public shut down the proceedings with their impassioned pleas for cross-network access. He wasn’t outside that public meeting in Oakland where his recently alienated and former longtime political base — organizers for the Service Employees International Union — shared the woes of workaday UPMC employees who feel overworked and underpaid.
• His transparent and hackneyed attempt to capitalize on the unfortunate politicizing of a matter that should be blind to party lines.
• His call-out of the Post-Gazette editorial pages, which have roundly and rightly criticized the mayor for his public silence on a matter of utmost importance to the region.
• The mayor’s flat-out wrong assessment as to what constitutes the “most obvious solution” to this five-year war, for which there is no adequate calculus to gauge the actual collateral damage to real people.
The winner is ... the last one. The part of Mr. Peduto’s tweet that ticks me most is his “most obvious solution” reference.
Has he lost his mind? Or is he simply disingenuous?
Let me set you straight, Mr. Mayor.
The “obvious solution” is the one for which the Post-Gazette editorial board has been lobbying for months: a resumption of bargaining between UPMC and Highmark.
Both parties know how to do it.
In fact, cross-network access under negotiated terms was business-as-usual for decades upon decades until UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff walked away one day, pledging never to return. The precipitating event was Highmark’s purchase of the West Penn hospital (which has evolved into Allegheny Health Network) — a move Mr. Romoff considered “threatening.” That’s when Mr. Romoff threw his hissy fit and handed down what he hoped would be a death sentence to Highmark/AHN. By all and varied accounts, Mr. Romoff’s outrage was palpable. How dare Highmark brazenly dive into vertical integration (adding a provider component to its health insurance business) though UPMC had done the same thing and had done it first when it created its own health insurance brand some five years earlier?
It’s not too late to change course.
We got a glimpse of how easy it could be when, less than two weeks ago, the UPMC Zeus waved his scepter and, poof, cancer patients were granted continuing access to Hillman Cancer Center beyond the June 30 deadline.
The pronouncement from on high (as in the 64th floor of the U.S. Steel Tower) hasn’t been codified, but UPMC delivered proposed contract language to Highmark late Monday. Meanwhile, contracts already are in place with Children’s Hospital (through 2022) and with Western Psychiatric (through 2024).
Word about town is that UPMC has hired an outside PR firm to help reframe its image, which is mired in the gutter. Whether its turnabout on Hillman and its decision to strike a prepayment requirement among the region’s senior citizens were part of that reframing, I don’t know.
But here’s some advice: Members of the UPMC board of directors, it is time to fulfill your duties of governance. Act in the best interest of UPMC and the community it serves. Compel Mr. Romoff to call a quit to the grudge match and return to the negotiating table with Highmark.
UPMC’s image could be restored. (Maybe. Someday.) Mr. Costa and his never-say-die supporters in the Legislature could stop beating their heads against a brick wall. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro could relent on his litigation against UPMC for betraying its mission as a purely public charity. And our community could have some peace of mind.
I asked Mr. Costa what he thought of Mr. Peduto’s Twitter reply, particularly noteworthy because it’s only about the fourth time the mayor has tweeted on the subject of UPMC since 2011 though he is known as a prolific user of social media.
The senator, a Democrat, said of the Democratic mayor he was “appreciative”.
I pressed him to say what seems obvious to me: that the mayor’s public comment could be summed up as too little, too late.
Mr. Costa wouldn’t bite. “I can’t do that. You understand my position.”
Yes, I think I do. To borrow part of the mayor’s tweet: It’s “most obvious.”
That being said, I beseech the mayor to show us his stuff.
He issued a joint statement with Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald June 6 after the UPMC about-face on Hillman and prepayment: “This is how progress happens — by continuing to work together and engaging with all parties ...We look forward to continuing these productive conversations . ... ”
Please, please do, Mr. Mayor. Have a productive conversation with Mr. Romoff and the UPMC directors. Get them to sit down with Highmark. Instead of kicking the can across the state to Harrisburg, why don’t you deal with the trouble in your backyard?
Has Mr. Peduto lost his mind? Or is he simply disingenuous?