9/23/1997

PITTSBURGH, September 23, 1997 — Officials at McKeesport Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center today signed a letter of intent to merge the two organizations.

According to Ronald H. Ott, president and CEO of McKeesport Hospital, the merger should be complete by the end of the year. Under the new structure, McKeesport Hospital will become a subsidiary of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

"In this age where collaborations and networks are essential for success, we are very pleased about this relationship," stated Mr. Ott. "By becoming part of this system, McKeesport Hospital's patients will be assured of continuing their access to the highest level of specialty care close to home. Furthermore, our physicians, patients and employees will benefit from increased financial resources that will enable the hospital to enhance the residency training programs, maintain the state of the art physical plant/technology, and provide for more community health care programs."

"As McKeesport Hospital embarks on its second century of service, through this letter of intent a definitive step has been taken to enable McKeesport Hospital to achieve our strategic initiatives, and to ensure that the Hospital will continue its tradition of providing quality health care to our community in the future," stated Mr. Hugh Coughanour, Chairman of the McKeesport Hospital Board of Trustees.

"McKeesport Hospital will be a welcome addition to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center," stated Jeffrey Romoff, president of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "McKeesport Hospital's acute care services will not only be maintained but enhanced as this hospital will be the cornerstone of our services in the Mon-Valley and eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. With our partners, which include UPMC Braddock, we are committed to provide the best, most comprehensive and cost-effective primary and specialty services to the citizens of these areas."

McKeesport Hospital has been affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center since April, 1996, and since July, 1995, the UPMC's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) has provided physician direction to McKeesport Hospital's in-house psychiatric center. Since its affiliation with WPIC, the hospital's psychiatric specialty service has grown by 50 percent.

The success of this collaboration is a predictor of growth in other specialty areas when the planned merger occurs. McKeesport Hospital is a full service hospital and plans to expand the breadth of medical and surgical services provided in the future as a valued member of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

McKeesport Hospital has two residency training programs that will be enhanced by a closer affiliation with the academic medical center. The family practice and internal medicine programs at the hospital train 52 residents each year. Approximately 35 percent of McKeesport Hospital's medical staff in these areas are graduates of these residency programs.

McKeesport Hospital is a 311-bed acute care hospital established in 1894. It serves the Mon-Valley area and eastern suburbs. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is a comprehensive health care delivery system with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, this area's premier academic medical center, at its hub.