AHN to boost starting pay at end of March

Allegheny Health Network is boosting its minimum wage to $18 an hour at the end of March, more than doubling Pennsylvania’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, the Highmark Health subsidiary announced Friday.

The biggest impact of the pay hike will be felt in entry-level positions, including environmental services, dietary services and patient care technicians among other jobs. The increase will affect AHN employees who are at or near the network’s minimum hourly wage of $16 an hour, bringing pay raises of nearly 9% for some 1,700 employees.

AHN employs about 22,000 people across its 14-hospital system.

“At AHN, we recognize that there is no more valuable asset to our organization than the exceptional caregivers we employ across every discipline and we are committed to rewarding them appropriately for the important roles they all play in helping us accomplish our mission,” AHN President Jim Benedict said in a prepared statement.

Highmark Health will implement the $18 per hour minimum wage elsewhere within the organization, which will go into effect by the end of the year. In addition to the hospital system, Highmark Health subsidiaries include Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, enGen, a health insurance consultant, stoploss insurer HM Insurance Group and dental insurer United Concordia.

Highmark rival UPMC announced in January that it would increase starting wages to $18 an hour by 2025 for employees in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Williamsport. Entry-level wages at other UPMC facilities in Western and southwestern Pennsylvania, western Maryland and southwest New York will increase to $18 an hour by January 2026.