UPMC adds veteran lobbyist [The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]

Aug. 03--UPMC has hired a former member of Gov. Tom Ridge's Cabinet who was part of Gov. Tom Corbett's transition team to be its chief voice in government lobbying, the region's biggest hospital system said on Thursday.

K. Scott Baker, who is working at law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, Downtown, will take over as UPMC's vice president and chief government affairs officer effective Sept. 1.

Baker, who could not be reached for comment, served as secretary for legislative affairs under Ridge from 1995 to 1997, advancing the governor's agenda with the state and federal legislatures. He also served on several committees with Corbett's transition team.

Baker also serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency -- which works to provide affordable housing to older adults and low- to moderate-income families.

"We've found particularly over the last several years that health care has become an issue of great public and government discussion," said Tom McGough, UPMC's senior vice president and chief legal officer. "We found we needed to enhance our capabilities in government relations."

Baker joins UPMC as it comes under scrutiny from Harrisburg on several fronts: In May, UPMC extended its contract with health insurance giant Highmark until 2014 despite the insurer's work to buy UPMC's biggest rival in the region, West Penn Allegheny Health System. Highmark's$475 million acquisition is still awaiting state approval, even as the company pumps money into improving and expanding WPAHS's reach.

And as the rival health systems set up facilities like doctors' offices, outpatient centers and even entire new hospitals within close proximity of their competition -- driving up costs with duplicative services in some communities -- lawmakers like State Sen. Jim Ferlo are pushing legislation that would reinstate Pennsylvania's "certificate of need" process, wherein hospitals must demonstrate there is enough demand to support new investments.

Though UPMC already has people working in government relations and lobbying, they are spread through the health system, McGough said. Those lobbyists will now be concentrated and coordinated under Baker.

"UPMC is already wired in Harrisburg," said Jan Jennings, CEO of Downtown-based consulting firm American Healthcare Solutions. That they hired Baker "really demonstrates he's someone with a lot of yank," Jennings said.

At Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, Baker lobbies for clients in the health care, energy, technology and non-profit industries. Before that, at Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling, which was merged into Buchanan, Baker was part of a team that received $1.5 million in no-bid contracts for legal work with the Pennsylvania Turnpike between 2001 and 2005.

He lobbied for Minnesota education company Data Recognition Corp. when that firm contributed $22,000 to Gov. Ed Rendell's campaign in 2006-2007, and then earned a $201 million contract to develop high school graduation exams for the commonwealth.

Matthew Santoni is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-5625 or msantoni@tribweb.com.

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