UPMC Expands in China (Penn: home, live, health)

[Charley Barker]

From the Trib: https://triblive.com/local/pittsburg...-in-the-works/

What impact will this have on UPMC's ability to serve its home community? Good? Bad? TBD?

I had a conversation with a guy in Columbus last year who worked for one of their major healthcare systems, and, germane to this thread, he told me that the problem with the big systems in Ohio (specifically Cleveland Clinic) was that they were disinvesting locally in a search for new international revenue streams. He cited the Clinic's efforts to establish a toehold in London. Conversely the smaller system he worked for in Columbus was doing seminal community-based work to focus on violence as a public health issue and study it from a epidemiological standpoint. The efforts were really paying off in his opinion.

I'm not in the healthcare field, but I am wondering if you think this will leverage better services for UPMC patients locally, or if it is really emblematic of a shift in focus away from the local market, or something in between. As far as the not for profit status, I think that really needs to be scrutinized when large healthcare entities make moves like this that appear to be so far away from their local mission (I am assuming somewhere in their charter they are required to focus on healthcare in WPA - maybe not?).

Hello??? Congress, are you there? I know. THAT"S a whole other thread.

[kewlwhip]

UPMC has had a robust international operation for a long time. They operate a facility in Italy and Ireland.
They are in the Empire building business. I don't think it detracts from their primary mission of operating hospitals in Pennsylvania (no longer just Western PA.)