Health care in Lancaster County could be in for yet another big change, with one of the state’s largest health insurers and one of the region’s largest hospitals looking to work together more closely.
Penn State Health the parent company of Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Highmark announced this afternoon that their boards have agreed to pursue a strategic partnership.
The proposal says Highmark would get three seats on Penn State Health’s 15-person board, and the two organizations would look to develop “a value-based, community care network, including new facilities, to ensure patients and members in central and southcentral Pennsylvania are in close proximity to needed primary care, specialty care and appropriate acute care hospital settings.”
It also says the current leadership team will remain in place at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and that Penn State Health will commit to investing more than $1 billion to grow its health care presence throughout central Pennsylvania, with financial support from Highmark.
The organizations said the proposal “does not affect patients’ care or insurance coverage,” with Penn State Health free to contract with other health care insurance companies now and in the future, and Highmark free to contract with other hospitals and health systems. Existing agreements will remain in place, they said.
The move comes less than a year after objections from federal regulators killed a proposed merger between Penn State Health and what was then known as PinnacleHealth System, which neighbors it in Dauphin County.
PinnacleHealth subsequently joined bitter Highmark rival UPMC, changed its name to UPMC Pinnacle, and acquired two Lancaster County hospitals now known as UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster and Lititz.
Penn State Health, in turn, acquired what used to be Lancaster County’s largest independent physician practice and in October announced plans to build its first large facility in Lancaster County a 76,000-square-foot outpatient center at Lime Spring Square in East Hempfield township.
Date: Dec 15, 2017