Uniontown (Pa.) Hospital is in talks with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to affiliate and more closely align physicians, according to a Pittsburgh Business Times report.
Under the proposed deal, UPMC would help manage Uniontown's physician group. Uniontown CEO Paul Bacharach said in the report that the hospital employs 30 physicians, whereas UPMC employs roughly 3,000. "In short, these are very complex business and clinical functions in which they have more knowledge and expertise," Mr. Bacharach said in the report. "It makes no sense for us to reinvent the wheel."
According to the report, Uniontown has had trouble recruiting physicians due to its location in an "impoverished part of the state." The county's poverty rate is 19.2 percent (compared to statewide average of 12.4 percent) and also has the highest rate of diabetes in Pennsylvania.
A UPMC spokesperson emphasized that discussions are for a clinical affiliation, not an acquisition.
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Under the proposed deal, UPMC would help manage Uniontown's physician group. Uniontown CEO Paul Bacharach said in the report that the hospital employs 30 physicians, whereas UPMC employs roughly 3,000. "In short, these are very complex business and clinical functions in which they have more knowledge and expertise," Mr. Bacharach said in the report. "It makes no sense for us to reinvent the wheel."
According to the report, Uniontown has had trouble recruiting physicians due to its location in an "impoverished part of the state." The county's poverty rate is 19.2 percent (compared to statewide average of 12.4 percent) and also has the highest rate of diabetes in Pennsylvania.
A UPMC spokesperson emphasized that discussions are for a clinical affiliation, not an acquisition.
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