Facilities UPMC benefactors are concerned about include those providing specialty services, such as the Hillman Cancer Center, the Magee-Womens Hospital and the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.
When UPMC and Highmark struck an agreement last week to extend their relationship until 2015, those facilities were not mentioned by name. The two did agree, however, to negotiate special in-network rates after 2015 for “certain unique services offered by UPMC,” including Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, “certain oncological services,” UPMC Bedford and UPMC Venango.
A Highmark spokesperson has said there is intent to ensure access to UPMC specialty hospitals beyond 2015, “but the specifics still have to be worked out,” according to the report.
Elsie Hillman, whose family donated millions of dollars to the Hillman Cancer Center, said in the report, “I would like [the cancer center] to be as open as it possibly could be. The needs go all the way across the community. … It’s not just for what Highmark wants to do or UPMC wants to do. It’s a community resource.”
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