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Jameson Hospital cuts back on services
By Kalea Hall
NEW CASTLE, PA.
Operations at Jameson Hospital would not have to be adjusted if its parent company’s merger with another medical operation had already been approved by the Pennsylvania attorney general, a health system spokesman said.
Since the merger of Jameson Health System and The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has yet to be approved, the Jameson Hospital board of directors had to scale back operations at the hospital’s south campus where mostly outpatient services take place.
The south campus will go from 24 hours per day, seven days a week, to a weekday daytime facility.
“The age and condition of our south campus has made it impossible to financially sustain and preserve during the extended regulatory review period awaiting an impending merger with UPMC,” said Doug Danko, FACHE, president and CEO of Jameson Health System. “Continued operation of the south campus on a 24-hour basis is simply not sustainable at this time.”
Lisa Lombardo, director of public relations for Jameson Health System, said while mostly outpatient services are provided at the south campus, inpatient behavioral health services also are provided there.
The Behavioral Health Services program will discontinue its inpatient services, but the outpatient partial-hospitalization services will still be available. The closure of the inpatient unit will occur in mid-August.
A total of 24 employees work for inpatient behavioral services, but Lombardo explained that the number of those affected by the closure has yet to be determined. Some will continue to work with the outpatient behavioral services.
Other after-hours services at the south campus, at 1000 S. Mercer St., such as the Jameson Women’s Center and the Sleep Lab, will continue. There will be a plan developed to move these services or adjust hours of operation.
UPMC and Jameson both hoped to have the merger complete by March 1 and then April 1, but the review process has continually been pushed back.
“It certainly has had implications for us,” Lombardo said. “We are hoping to have it expedited as soon as possible.”
UPMC plans to expand and evolve health care services in the Lawrence/Mercer region. Areas of planned improvements for the region include physician recruitment, capital improvements and coordination of clinical programs.
The UPMC plan is to invest at least $70 million for the development of facilities and services at Jameson Health System.