Highmark Health and subsidiary Allegheny Health Network, both in Pittsburgh, announced on Jan. 15 the expansion of their longtime collaboration with Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, creating one of the nation's largest women's health-focused research initiatives.
The collaboration will comprise data-driven research in gynecologic care, maternal fetal medicine, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung transplantation, as well as the joint development of new practice standards and treatments in those areas.
Through the partnership, AHN patients will also have access to Johns Hopkins experts and facilities for lung transplantation and the treatment of rare and complex fetal conditions in the womb.
"As we have demonstrated over the past several years through our important work together in cancer, collaboration among leading institutions truly is essential to healthcare innovation and improving quality of care for the patients and communities we serve," Cynthia Hundorfean, AHN president and CEO, said in the announcement. "We look forward to the tremendous value this model will now also have for both patients and caregivers in our women and infants and pulmonary medicine programs."
The new research initiative builds on the three organizations' oncology collaboration, which was initially signed in 2014 and has since resulted in the construction of a new cancer institute at Allegheny General Hospital and total investments of at least $200 million.