Uniontown (Pa.) Hospital will close its pediatric department and maternity unit June 30. The decision came after the hospital re-evaluated services after Pittsburgh-based UPMC said it would end its clinical affiliation with the facility this summer, according to The Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
The closure of the pediatric department and 13-bed Family Beginnings Birthing Center will affect 50 jobs, including 30 nurses. Uniontown will offer employees other positions in the hospital.
"Our decisions are never just about the bottom line or the short term, but what options are available to us to provide the best care and sustain that level of care long-term," CEO Steve Handy told The Post-Gazette.
UPMC notified Uniontown in January that it would end its partnership with the facility midsummer. The decision left administrators scrambling to hire physicians to fill positions that UPMC had staffed.
UPMC has been the 160-bed hospital's partner for at least six years, helping them to recruit staff for the maternity and heart units.