BEAVER, Pa. \u2014 With the stroke of a pen, leaders from both health organizations, Heritage Valley Health System and Allegheny Health Network, officially signed their intent to merge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a historic day for all of us,\u201d said Dan Onorato, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer with Highmark Health. \u201cMost importantly [it\u2019s historic] for the hundreds of thousands of residents who call the greater Beaver County and western Allegheny County regions home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The merger of the two systems adds the hospitals in Beaver and Sewickley to AHN, bringing their total to 16 in the region. AHN will also absorb multiple urgent care clinics, doctors and specialist offices, with more than 3,300 employees and 600 physicians.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something Heritage Valley has wanted to do for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started down this path of looking for a partner in 2013,\u201d said Heritage Valley Health System President and CEO Norm Mitry. \u201c[We] tried a couple of things that didn\u2019t work. Then COVID hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitry said Heritage Valley Health System already sees thousands of patients insured by Highmark. Highmark is owned by AHN. He said the affiliation between AHN and Heritage Valley makes sure those patients, and others, continue to get in-network care they need, without needing to drive to Pittsburgh or other locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to provide high-quality care consistent with continuity is incredibly important for the county,\u201d Mitry told Channel 11\u2019s Andrew Havranek.<\/p>\n
Mitry said without a merger, the future of Heritage Valley Health System was uncertain. They closed their Ohio Valley Hospital in Kennedy this summer. While he believes there would have still been a hospital in Beaver and Sewickley, some procedures may have been discontinued.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of those specialty services require specialty physicians that are high-cost physicians,\u201d Mitry said. \u201cSo, what it would mean is we would become more of a stopover point to treat and stabilize and transfer to the city instead of being able to provide the high-quality care here at Sewickley and Beaver.\u201d<\/p>\n
The merger of the two health networks isn\u2019t complete. The deal has to be approved by the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission. That process could take five months to a year. <\/p>\n
Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a>, leaders from both health organizations, Heritage Valley Health System and Allegheny Health Network,<\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92025 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n