Coudersport, Pa.-based Cole Memorial Hospital officially completed its integration with Pittsburgh-based UPMC March 1, 2018, and was rebranded UPMC Cole under the agreement.
While the move brought "greater access to specialty healthcare for those in our community," Ed Pitchford, president of UPMC Cole, wrote in letter to the Olean Times Herald, the hospital is facing questions about whether it will be affected by an impending split between UPMC and Pittsburgh-based Highmark.
Starting July 1, 2019, approximately 175,000 Highmark Medicare Advantage plan members in the greater Pittsburgh and Erie, Pa., areas will lose in-network access to 11 UPMC hospitals and "most UPMC doctors," according to a UPMC spokesperson cited by the Post-Gazette. The Highmark-UPMC consent decree, struck in 2014, expires June 30.
"UPMC Cole continues to accept many insurance plans, among them Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield for all services, including cancer care. In this region, the UPMC hospitals in Wellsboro, Coudersport, Kane and Jamestown in New York will continue to be in-network for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield members after June 30," he wrote.
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