Allegheny Health Network expands women’s services in competition with UPMC

Sept. 27--Allegheny Health Network wants the women of Pittsburgh.

The region's second-largest hospital network is stepping up its competition for patients with health giant UPMC by investing millions of dollars in women's health services.

Women are key customers for hospital systems, experts say, because they tend to make the health care decisions for a family.

If a woman has a great experience at an Allegheny Health Network facility, "you've captured that family and they stay with you," said Dr. William Poller, director of breast imaging at the network.

UPMC has had a lock on the women's health care market with its renowned Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland, where 11,000 babies are delivered each year.

But Allegheny Health, formed by health insurer Highmark Inc. from the former West Penn Allegheny Health System and two independent hospitals, is intent on providing women an alternative, officials said.

It's essential to Highmark's insurance business that women in Pittsburgh see Allegheny Health's services as comparable to UPMC's because Highmark members lose in-network access to Magee and most other UPMC hospitals in Allegheny County on Jan. 1.

North Allegheny School District dropped Highmark as the health insurer for its employees and their families, citing the loss of Magee as an in-network provider as a primary reason for the decision.

"Their members wanted access to Magee," UPMC spokesman Paul Wood said.

"One of the key differentiators that UPMC will have is Magee-Womens Hospital, which is year in and year out regarded as one of the top 10 best women's hospitals in the country," Wood said. "There is nothing Highmark and AHN can do to replicate that reputation."

Dr. Allan Klapper, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Allegheny Health, disagrees.

Recent and planned investment in the network "places us at the same competitive level as what Magee is doing."

At West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield, the network spent nearly $6 million to renovate the 15-room labor and delivery center, completed last year. It's spending $7 million to update public waiting areas and renovate a postpartum unit.

Klapper said the number of babies delivered at Allegheny Health Network hospitals in the first half of this year is up 15 percent compared with last year to 2,700 births.

More births also mean greater potential for complications. So the hospital expects to begin work soon on a $16 million to $20 million expansion of its neonatal intensive care unit. That project, which will increase beds in the unit to 60, up from 45, is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2016, Klapper said.

The network also is addressing women's medical needs in Pittsburgh's northern and southern suburbs.

Women's health services are a major focus at the $100 millionWexford Health and Wellness Pavilion in Pine, which will open on Wednesday.

The region's largest outpatient medical mall has "everything any woman would need," said Dr. Susan Manzi, chairwoman of the network's department of medicine.

Services include physician practices in obstetrics and gynecology, the latest diagnostic imaging equipment for breast cancer screening, a breast surgery center, and specialists in gynecologic oncology, urogynecology and maternal and fetal medicine. The center also has practices in pediatrics and a free day care center where children can be dropped off while parents go to appointments.

At Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills, the network opened a $20 million women's health center in July. And it will begin delivering babies in November in the hospital's new labor and delivery center.

Klapper said nearly 80 percent of the pregnant women in Jefferson's service area have been going to Magee to deliver their babies. He expects many of them will want to stay closer to home.

In addition to new facilities, the network is adding doctors, including poaching women's health specialists from UPMC. Physicians are key to bringing in patients, and 38 obstetricians and gynecologists have joined Allegheny Health in the past 18 months, Klapper said, including 14 who came from UPMC.

"We continue to recruit in the sub-specialties," he said.

Alex Nixon is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7928 or [email protected].

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