Hospital Integration Complete

OLEAN, NY— Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center have taken a significant step aimed at providing greater health care opportunities in the region by integrating under a new parent company, the Upper Allegheny Health System. Approved and effective as of November 5, 2009, the integration will enable both hospitals to better respond to health care needs of the region and financial challenges that are the result of reductions in reimbursements from health insurers and payers.

"The integration of our two hospitals will position us to provide even greater care and service to the 150,000 area residents who depend upon our two hospitals for health care services,” said Timothy J. Finan, President and CEO of Upper Allegheny Health System. Prior to the hospitals’ integration and formation of the parent company, Mr. Finan was President and CEO of Olean General Hospital.

According to Finan, the hospitals’ integration will enhance the hospitals’ ability to introduce new and expanded programs and services in response to regional healthcare needs. The integration will also help to improve the ability of the hospitals to recruit physicians and other clinical professionals to the region. The primary objective of the integration is to better enable each hospital to continue to provide high-quality care to communities throughout the Upper Allegheny Health System service area.

It has been just over one year since the hospitals’ integration plan was publicly announced and efforts began to obtain the requisite New York and Pennsylvania regulatory approvals.

"Clearly, the impetus for the integration of our two organizations is to create a framework that helps to better ensure that the Bradford and Olean communities will retain vibrant and viable full-service hospitals for many, many years to come," said Mr. Finan.

The creation of the Upper Allegheny Health System is consistent with an ongoing national trend of hospital integrations and collaborations. Currently, approximately 50% of the nation’s hospitals participate in multi hospital systems. "The development of the Upper Allegheny Health System is consistent with what is happening nationally with individual hospitals. By virtue of the increased scale of this new organization, our two hospitals will be better positioned to respond to any number of challenges confronting hospitals everywhere.” Mr. Finan said. The Upper Allegheny Health System will have annual revenues of $160M and include over 1,500 employees.

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