Pittsburgh-based West Penn Alleghany Health System and insurance company Highmark have "lured" six physicians from UPMC in the past six months — a small portion of the system's 3,200 physicians, but a development that suggests a shift in a traditionally one-way migration pattern, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report.
West Penn employs 630 physicians compared with 557 a year ago. Highmark's pending $475 million takeover of the hospital system is part of its plan to develop a $1 billion integrated system to compete with UPMC.
West Penn's CMO, Tony Farah, MD, said he's heard from hundreds of physicians interested in leaving UPMC once they heard of the pending Highmark transaction. "They feel [UPMC has] a top-down approach," he said in the report. "They would like to have more say."
Blair Jobe, MD, a surgeon who recently left UPMC for West Penn, said the country is watching the relationship between Highmark and West Penn and that the deal is "an experiment in addressing the problems in healthcare," according to the report.
UPMC spokesperson Paul Wood said the system has added roughly 400 physicians to its staff in the past year, and the system is "not having any problem attracting physicians from around the nation and around the region," according to the report. He also said UPMC is getting phone calls from West Penn physicians "looking for an out from a failing institution," according to the report.
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West Penn employs 630 physicians compared with 557 a year ago. Highmark's pending $475 million takeover of the hospital system is part of its plan to develop a $1 billion integrated system to compete with UPMC.
West Penn's CMO, Tony Farah, MD, said he's heard from hundreds of physicians interested in leaving UPMC once they heard of the pending Highmark transaction. "They feel [UPMC has] a top-down approach," he said in the report. "They would like to have more say."
Blair Jobe, MD, a surgeon who recently left UPMC for West Penn, said the country is watching the relationship between Highmark and West Penn and that the deal is "an experiment in addressing the problems in healthcare," according to the report.
UPMC spokesperson Paul Wood said the system has added roughly 400 physicians to its staff in the past year, and the system is "not having any problem attracting physicians from around the nation and around the region," according to the report. He also said UPMC is getting phone calls from West Penn physicians "looking for an out from a failing institution," according to the report.
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