PITTSBURGH, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ — A spokesperson for the Passavant  Hospital Foundation today said that the imminent closure of UPMC Beaver Valley  and the layoff of 175 of its employees was an example of how UPMC Health  System does not keep its commitments.

“When UPMC took over the former Aliquippa Hospital, it made a pledge to  that community that it would keep a viable healthcare presence and important  jobs in the area,” said Ralph DeStefano, Chairman of the Passavant Hospital  Foundation Board of Directors. 

“The recent announcement that UPMC is closing  the hospital now called UPMC Beaver Valley has tragically demonstrated that  when local control is lost, the best interests of the local community are  forgotten,” said DeStefano.

“We in the Passavant Hospital Foundation and the North Hills community  believe that if our merger with UPMC is completed and our local hospital board  is dissolved, the same thing could happen here,” said DeStefano.

DeStefano stated that the recent operating loss at UPMC Beaver should not  be the reason to close a hospital.  “We understand that as recently as 1998  UPMC Beaver Valley showed an operating profit.”

“The operating losses at UPMC Beaver were $1.5 million for the first  quarter of the fiscal year, an amount that is relatively minor compared to  other recent UPMC expenditures, such as $35 million to build a practice field  for the Steelers and University of Pittsburgh Panthers,” said DeStefano.

“What’s more important for an organization that’s supposed to be a not-for-  profit medical provider: a practice facility for sports teams, or healthcare  and jobs in a part of western Pennsylvania that has suffered enough economic  distress over the past 20 years?” asked DeStefano.

DeStefano cited other recent UPMC expenditures that the Passavant  Foundation considers less important than fulfilling the basic hospital mission  of serving communities:      — Tens of millions spent on buying physicians’ practices in recent years      — Tens of millions in losses in operating physician practices in the last         fiscal year      — $5.0 million gift to the St. Francis Health System.

“It makes no sense to close a part of your own system and blame it on too  many beds, yet contribute $5.0 million to a competing organization like St.  Francis with a severe over-bedding problem,” said DeStefano.

“We sympathize with the plight of the people of Aliquippa, but our resolve  is strengthened to make sure it doesn’t happen in the North Hills,” said  DeStefano, who added that “the events in Aliquippa exemplify what happens when  there is no local independent board of directors managing a community  hospital.”

The Passavant Hospital Foundation was incorporated in 1981 as a 501(C)3  nonprofit foundation and opened its offices in 1983 for the sole and exclusive  purpose of raising funds for the benefit of North Hills Passavant Hospital.  The foundation is a separate entity from the hospital.  Funds contributed  remain in this community to strengthen existing hospital services and develop  new ones.

UPMC Passavant is a 296-bed community hospital located in McCandless  Township, North Hills.  The hospital was founded in 1849 and has been serving  the North Hills for more than three decades.  The hospital’s centers of  emphasis include cancer care, cardiac care, emergency medicine, orthopedics  and women’s care.        For more information, contact The Passavant Hospital Foundation at  412-367-6485.

SOURCE  Passavant Hospital Foundation

Link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/passavant-hospital-foundation-denounces-upmc-closing-of-upmc-beaver-valley-75146572.html