Allegheny Health Network added 15 physicians to the ranks at Jefferson Hospital in Pittsburgh to accommodate twice-as-many annual births, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.
The hospital is expecting 700 to 800 births this year in the hospital's new $19 million Women and Infants Center, with projected growth to 1,500 births annually, according to the report. Births increased 16 percent across all AHN hospitals for a total of 5,536 in 2014.
The expansion is a move to challenge UPMC's dominance of maternity services in the Pittsburgh market, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times. However, AHN has a strong competitor: 11,000 babies are born annually at UPMC's Pittsburgh-based Magee-Womens Hospital.
AHN and UPMC are currently embroiled in a battle for patients and insurance plan members, according to the report.
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