- The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center made a public announcement in October 2009 that it would close the 123-bed UPMC Braddock Hospital on January 31, 2010. Braddock council was not notified ahead of time.
- UPMC is a global health corporation with facilities in Italy, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Qatar, and Cyprus.
- UPMC President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff received $4,448,181.00 in compensation and $72,367.00 in contributions to his employee benefit plan in 2008.
- UPMC has vigorously fought attempts to unionize its workforce at all locations.
- The 2,700 residents of the borough have no easy access to another health facility. In addition, the community has a large elderly population for whom transportation is especially problematic.
- Not only is UPMC Braddock the largest employer in the borough, with 652 employees, it also has Braddock's only restaurant -- the hospital cafeteria -- and the town's only ATM.
- Allegheny County is building a $14 million senior citizen facility across from the hospital on Braddock Ave. and chose that location after consulting with UPMC. Relocation of the main entrance of Braddock Hospital from Holland Ave. to Braddock Ave. was an integral part of the project. The state gave UPMC a $3 million grant in 2008 to help spruce up the hospital and replace the faÁade and other renovations.
- Another grant for $250,000 went to a UPMC Braddock’s community-based outpatient programs, such as Steps to a Healthy Community, Health for Life summer camp, the UPMC Braddock Dental Center and various youth mentoring and senior housing initiatives.
- Meanwhile, UPMC is building a similar-sized hospital in Monroeville, an affluent community northeast of Braddock. Monroeville already has a modern hospital that is a part of the West Penn Allegheny Health (WPAH) system, UPMC’s competition in the area. On November 12, 2009, WPAH offered to collaborate with UPMC in Monroeville, so this new building project could be avoided.
- PA health department reports on hospital utilization show that UPMC Braddock's occupancy rate in 2007-08 was 72.4 percent, higher than six other Allegheny County hospitals, including UPMC Mercy, West Penn, Heritage Valley in Sewickley and Ohio Valley.
- In fact, reports show that since 2000 the Braddock facility never has averaged below 69 percent occupancy and was slightly above the countywide average during that span. UPMC management did not include UPMC Braddock's behavioral health beds used for the drug and alcohol, sober living and detoxification programs in their utilization calculations.
- UPMC officials decide which services to offer and at which hospital. Braddock doesn't provide oncology or obstetrics. People must then go to another hospital, but this is not by choice. (Having cancer and having a baby are two reasons low-income people to seek medical care that they often must otherwise forgo.)
- Braddock residents report that they often are transferred to another hospital after admission to Braddock, contributing to a reduction in patient days at UPMC Braddock.
- Although the beds in the general medical portion of the Braddock hospital are not as full as UPMC honchos would like, the beds devoted to drug and alcohol, sober living and detoxification are well-used. This not only boosts the hospital's overall utilization rate to a quite healthy level, it means there's a significant community, defined by need, that still could be served.
- While UPMC officials cite low usage from “the community”, it appears that UPMC defined community to include parts of Pittsburgh that would normally identify with other hospitals, seriously challenging UPMC’s assertion of “low utilization” by the Braddock community.
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