UPMC Fast Facts: Commitment to the Community

What You Know About UPMC

• UPMC is the largest health care provider in the region.
• Its employees constitute more than 55,000 of your friends and neighbors.
• UPMC is an economic engine for the region that is creating new businesses and industries. The organization also aims to generate jobs in this region by creating an international market for health care-related products and services originating here in Pittsburgh.

What You Probably Don’t Know About UPMC

UPMC contributed $565 million, or more than 10 percent of its net patient revenue, to community services in Fiscal Year 2011 and provides more care to the poorest and most underserved areas than any other health care institution in the region.

• In Fiscal Year 2011, UPMC provided more than $206 million in care for those without means to pay and to cover shortfalls in payments from Medicaid and similar government programs.
• UPMC’s financial assistance policy extends free or discounted health care services to families earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level — as much as $89,400 for a family of four in 2011.
• UPMC also contributed an additional $54 million beyond its community service contributions to cover shortfalls in reimbursements from Medicare and $20 million in bad debt attributed to patients who would have qualified for financial assistance, had they applied.

UPMC annually provides or contributes to more than 3,000 community health improvement programs. The cost of these services, along with charitable initiatives and donations that benefit the community, amounted to $93 million in Fiscal Year 2011.

• UPMC is deeply rooted in the community, supporting initiatives that address significant social issues such as hunger, literacy, and family health.
• Many of these programs target the unmet needs of vulnerable populations, addressing chronic problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, as well as social issues such as teen pregnancy, violence against women, and elderly living alone.
• UPMC pledged $100 million to the Pittsburgh Promise, providing postsecondary education support to students graduating from Pittsburgh Public Schools. To date, UPMC has provided $35.5 million of this matching pledge.

UPMC invested more than $266 million in Fiscal Year 2011 toward research and the education of health professionals.

• $148.5 million supported biomedical research at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC.
• $118 million funded educational initiatives to create the next generation of physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals.

UPMC Insurance Services programs provide insurance coverage for more than 1.8 million members, and help provide access to care for vulnerable and underserved populations, covering nearly 900,000 people across 35 counties through needs-based insurance products.

• These programs provide behavioral (Community Care Behavioral Health) and physical health (UPMC for You) services to vulnerable populations, including children (UPMC for Kids) and low-income seniors and disabled populations (UPMC for Life Specialty Plan).
• UPMC health plans have been recognized for innovative, community focused programs that support these vulnerable populations with screening services and preventive care for chronic conditions. Examples include encouraging early prenatal care, providing diabetes outreach for African-Americans, and meeting the physical and behavioral health care needs of foster children in Allegheny County.

UPMC continues to preserve health care access for the region’s most vulnerable populations, creating new services and maintaining standards of care during times of change.

• UPMC remains committed to UPMC McKeesport's fiscal viability, and invested $4 million in upgrades to the hospital in Fiscal Year 2011.
• To better serve the residents of the east Pittsburgh area, we invested $77 million in Fiscal Year 2011 to complete our new UPMC East hospital, due to open in 2012.
• UPMC has developed state-of-the-art telemedicine programs that put UPMC’s specialists in Pittsburgh at the disposal of UPMC community doctors in rural communities throughout western Pennsylvania — providing world-class care to patients without having to travel to Pittsburgh.
• UPMC assumed behavioral health programs for vulnerable patients when St. Francis Medical Center closed in 2002, and continues to offer these vital services today. Last year, UPMC behavioral health programs delivered 500,000 ambulatory visits to almost 50,000 people at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC, UPMC Mercy, UPMC McKeesport, UPMC Northwest, and more than 50 ambulatory programs throughout the region.

UPMC cares for a disproportionate share of patients in low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods. UPMC hospitals provide more than three-fourths of inpatient care for the 10 poorest neighborhoods in Allegheny County.

• UPMC’s market share for Medicaid patients exceeds those of other provider systems. This is most pronounced for populations such as children living in poverty, to whom UPMC provides 86 percent of care.
• Similarly, UPMC accounts for 73 percent of care in the 10 neighborhoods within Allegheny County with the highest population of African-American residents.

UPMC paid $80 million in taxes and other contributions to local, county, and state governments in Fiscal Year 2011. UPMC also paid $176 million in federal and state employment taxes. UPMC’s employees paid an estimated $118 million in taxes.

• UPMC’s operations have a total economic impact of $21.5 billion. UPMC’s direct and indirect spending accounted for more than 10 percent of the GDP in the Pittsburgh region in Fiscal Year 2011.
• UPMC has long made voluntary financial contributions to city and county governments and school districts. These “payment in lieu of taxes” (PILOT) arrangements total nearly $40 million since 1989.

The creation of UPMC’s hospital network has contributed more than half a billion dollars to creating or maintaining strong, community-based health care foundations, including:

• As part of UPMC’s 1990 merger with what was to become UPMC Montefiore, the organization provided the independent Jewish Healthcare Foundation with $75 million in startup funding. The foundation provides health care services and research to protect vulnerable populations.
• UPMC’s merger agreement with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh included building a new Children’s Hospital campus to ensure and improve care for the region’s children, regardless of their families’ ability to pay. UPMC designated $178 million for the charitable mission of the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
• UPMC stepped in to save Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh, maintaining the choice of Catholic health care in this community. UPMC also provided $120 million to the Sisters of Mercy to support their mission to serve the poor and disenfranchised.

To download a printable version, please open the UPMC Community Benefits Fast Facts PDF.