Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network approved the construction of the system's first mini hospital in Hempfield, Pa., according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The 10-bed, 79,000-square-foot facility will open in 2019 and be the first of four planned mini hospitals AHN hopes to open in the Pittsburgh area. AHN will partner with San Antonio-based Emerus Holdings for the project.
The hospital will be located two miles from Greensburg, Pa.-based Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital. Westmoreland officials have called the new hospital predatory and argue the for-profit facility will skim insured patients from Westmoreland without addressing any of the area's most pressing health needs.