UPMC Braddock to Close
PITTSBURGH, PA, October 16, 2009 – UPMC announced today that UPMC Braddock will cease operations on January 31, 2010. Clinical operations at UPMC Braddock will begin shifting to other UPMC facilities next month.
“UPMC’s mission of providing access to superb clinical care must be carefully balanced with a prudent stewardship of our economic resources and their effective utilization across the entire UPMC system,” said Elizabeth B. Concordia, executive vice president, UPMC, and president, Hospital and Community Services Division. “This decision was made in the face of continued declining community utilization of UPMC Braddock, which impaired the long-term viability of services we’re able to offer.”
Inpatient utilization at UPMC Braddock has declined significantly in the past several years. Admissions fell by more than 21 percent between 2004 and 2009 and are projected to decline further in 2010. The average daily census of 51 is significantly below operational levels necessary to ensure sustainability. Braddock-area residents are increasingly going to facilities other than UPMC Braddock for their inpatient care – at only a 20.8 percent market share, nearly four out of five area residents are choosing to go elsewhere for their hospital care.
Since UPMC acquired the then-failing Braddock Medical Center in 1996, it has invested more than $60 million in an effort to make UPMC Braddock a fiscally responsible and viable institution. UPMC has provided $30 million in capital projects to improve UPMC Braddock, launched a number of outreach and marketing initiatives to better serve the community and increase awareness, and allocated funds in support of community-based physician practices and other “in-kind” health and social services. Despite these efforts, UPMC has absorbed nearly $27 million in operating losses over the past six years. UPMC also projects another $50 million in operating losses in the next five to six years.
UPMC will continue to operate key community-based outpatient programs in Braddock, 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. UPMC intends to work with local physicians to expand access to primary care for area residents and with the community on the disposition or redevelopment of the building and land.
Over the next several months, UPMC will work closely with UPMC Braddock medical staff to ensure continuity for them and their patients. The medical staff will be incorporated into the staffs at other UPMC facilities. Most current employees will be offered positions elsewhere within the system.