 Already
the fastest growing hospital in the UPMC system, UPMC Passavant is
poised for even more expansion
UPMC Passavant and UPMC Passavant Cranberry envision a $150 million
expansion.
As the population of Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs continues to grow,
so does the need for quality health care close to home. To meet this
need, UPMC Passavant and UPMC Passavant Cranberry are expanding their
facilities, services, and staff to better serve this increasing
patient base.
The goal of our strategic visioning process is to position UPMC
Passavant as the hospital of the future, providing high-profile
tertiary services, especially in the areas of cardiac and cancer
care,” explains Teresa G. Petrick, president, UPMC Passavant. “We have
a clearly defined vision of what we want to accomplish in the next
decade, and we are moving very quickly along that path.”
“We’ve come a long way in the past four years, and it hasn’t been by
accident,” agrees UPMC Passavant Board of Trustees Chairman Richard S.
Hamilton. “Early on, we crafted the vision of where we wanted to go
and so far we’ve accomplished everything we set out to do—and we’re
keeping the momentum going.” The multi-million dollar expansion plan
is expected to take about 10 years and will include major enhancements
at both of UPMC Passavant’s northern hospitals.
UPMC Passavant
 Already, UPMC Passavant has made major strides in the area of cardiac
care, opening two new catheterization labs, an electrophysiology lab,
and an eight-bed cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit within the past
three years. The hospital has also expanded the scope and breadth of
cardiac surgical services, bringing in specialists known for their
expertise in high-end cardiac surgical procedures, including mitral
valve repairs, coronary artery revascularization, aortic valve
replacement and left ventricular reconstruction.
UPMC Passavant has also expanded the breadth of services offered in
the UPMC Cancer Center, which now offers high-end treatment modalities
including 4D respiratory-gated radiation therapy, intensity modulated
radiation therapy (IMRT), and on-board imaging (OBI) to improve tumor
targeting and treatment. As phase one of the 10-year expansion
continues, the UPMC Cancer Center will triple in size, providing more
clinical space and even more advanced interventional services.
Already, UPMC Passavant is beginning to see the results of these
expanded offerings. In the past four years, hospital admissions have
grown by 36 percent, with roughly 3,800 increased admissions during
that time period. According to Elizabeth B. Concordia, senior
vice-president, UPMC Academic and Community Hospitals, the Health
System is pleased by the northern hospital’s impressive growth. “UPMC
Passavant is essential to UPMC’s current and future success,” she
says.
UPMC Passavant’s medical staff is happy with the hospital’s
development as well. “This is really the right place and the right
time to undertake this expansion,” says
Dr. James W. Boyle, president of UPMC Passavant’s medical staff. “By
improving both the facility and the availability of specialty care and
testing, UPMC Passavant has made it possible for patients to find the
services they need in the north.”
“Before this expansion, patients had to travel into the city, which
many of them didn’t like to do,” he continues. “But now that we’ve
increased our service line, we can treat the vast majority of patients
here. UPMC Passavant physicians no longer need to send their patients
elsewhere for treatment, because from a clinical standpoint, they have
everything that they need here. This ability to provide direct
treatment also helps to attract more patients to the doctors’
practices, which makes it a win-win situation.”
Ever-expanding
Already the fastest growing hospital in the UPMC Health System, UPMC
Passavant is poised for even more expansion. In addition to the
expansion of the UPMC Cancer Center, the hospital will also be
expanding the Emergency Department to make it more user-friendly for
patients. “Right now, the Emergency Department receives 34,000 visits
a year, and we expect to increase that to 45,000 visits a year,” says
Ms. Petrick. “We will be adding additional imaging services to the
Emergency Department, including a CT scanner, so that patients can
have their testing done without having to go to another area of the
hospital, and we’re working to create a fast-track area so that
patients can get in and out quickly.”
UPMC Passavant also plans to add at least six video integrated smart
operating room suites to its facilities. These rooms, which are in
addition to the 15 surgical suites currently used for routine surgical
procedures and advanced tertiary services, will be customized to meet
the needs of various minimally invasive procedures, therefore further
maximizing surgeon and staff efficiency. Among the list of advanced
surgical services already available at UPMC Passavant are cardiac,
gastrointestinal, and oncology procedures such as liver resectioning
and chemotherapy perfusion.
“We anticipate that as we grow, we will need additional beds on
campus, so our vision includes four more floors of medical/surgical
beds and expanded critical care services,” says Ms. Petrick. When the
expansion is complete, UPMC Passavant will be a 500-bed hospital.
“It’s really impressive to see what has already been done in the past
four years with regard to the expansion of services, purchase of new
equipment, and the addition of more specialists to the UPMC Passavant
staff,” says Dr. Boyle. “One of the biggest improvements was the new
tower, which includes three new floors of all-private rooms. These
rooms provide a more pleasant and comfortable experience for patients
and their families.”
Though still in the planning stages, future expansion on the UPMC
Passavant campus might include the addition of more new buildings to
hold expanded outpatient cardiac services. “The new building could
potentially include a cardiac wellness center, specialty clinics for
cardiac services, a diagnostic center for peripheral vascular disease,
and, in all likelihood, an area to house cardiac research and
development,” says Ms. Petrick.
The hospital also anticipates completing Cumberland Road, which will
open access to the campus from the east. “Right now, UPMC Passavant
only occupies 53 acres of the 132 acres it owns,” says Ms. Petrick.
“This gives us plenty of opportunities for even further geographic
development.”
In addition to new and improved facilities, UPMC Passavant is also
expanding its use of cutting-edge technology and adding additional
staff. “This expansion is not just all bricks and mortar,” says Ms.
Petrick. “A significant part of our investment going forward is in
adding to our valued medical staff in order to provide expanded
tertiary services,” she continues. “This includes filling the need for
specialists to complete our vision with more cancer surgeons in order
to complement our expansion into lung, esophageal, pancreatic, GI,
liver, and breast oncology care, as well as cardiovascular specialists
to fill specialty niches.”
“With the addition of these specialists, UPMC Passavant can continue
to expand patient services within the institution, and in some cases,
avoid having to transport sicker patients to other hospitals,” adds
Dr. Boyle. “This enables us to keep these patients closer to their
homes and families.”
Even as UPMC Passavant continues to grow, it is especially important
to the hospital that they not lose the personal touch for which they
have become known. “UPMC Passavant has always had a strong foundation
as a high-touch hospital, and we plan to continue offering that type
of care,” says Ms. Petrick. “We want to focus on making a stay at the
hospital the ultimate patient experience—offering everything from
private rooms, to valet parking, to concierge services and room
service.”
With more patients and their families coming from out of town to take
advantage of UPMC Passavant’s specialized services, these types of
amenities are becoming even more important. “We had one family come in
from Louisiana, who ended up staying here for more than a month,” Ms.
Petrick explains. “When their family member was finally discharged, we
made arrangements to package up all of their belongings and ship them
home. It’s this kind of special attention to service that
distinguishes us and the services we offer.”
UPMC Passavant also works with the Sisters of Divine Providence and
the Kearns Spirituality Center to providing housing for out of town
families, and also provides computer and fax services so that families
can stay in touch with each other. “We want to differentiate ourselves
from other tertiary facilities, and that means focusing on what is
most important to patients and their families,” says Petrick. “This
attention to detail is possible because of the combined efforts of the
600 volunteers and 2000 staff members who are dedicated to patient
care and our overall collective success.”
Dr. Boyle agrees. “UPMC Passavant has always been known for being a
very personable, friendly place to get care,” he says. “It’s large
enough for patients to get the services they need, but small enough
that patients are not simply a room number and a diagnosis.”
UPMC Passavant Cranberry
This same level of quality care extends even further into the northern
suburbs at UPMC Passavant Cranberry, which is also undergoing a growth
spurt. A new $9 million expansion of the Emergency Department will be
underway soon and will triple the department’s size.
“Within 18 months, UPMC Passavant Cranberry will have a new Emergency
Department that will incorporate a ‘mini’ children’s Emergency
Department within its confines,” says Ms. Petrick of the project that
is a collaboration with Children’s Hospital. The new 8,500-sq. ft.
facility will enable the hospital to treat more patients, increasing
visits from 17,000 to 40,000 annually.
Since joining UPMC in 2002, the UPMC Passavant Cranberry facility has
grown exponentially, adding facilities as well as employees. “We’ve
improved a lot of the infrastructure, including adding a major imaging
center and the new Comprehensive Breast Care Center,” says Ms. Petrick
of changes completed this year. “We’ve also more than doubled staff,
from fewer than 100 employees when the hospital started to more than
250 employees now.”
Community help and support
Of course, no hospitals can expand in such dramatic ways without the
help of a number of benefactors, both inside and outside their
facilities. “None of this would be happening without the support of
the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the Passavant Hospital
Foundation and our Board of Auxiliaries,” says Mr. Hamilton. “Their
collective efforts have helped to catapult us forward by supporting us
both strategically and financially.”
“Our mission has always been to raise funds for the sole purpose of
supporting UPMC Passavant, and we are very pleased to see how quickly
and efficiently the expansion plans have moved forward,” says Ralph
DeStefano, president, Passavant Hospital Foundation. “There is no
doubt that this expansion will benefit both the hospital and its
patients.”
As the northern suburbs continue to grow, so will the hospitals that
serve its residents. “We will continue to provide an environment where
patients can get the latest technology with uncompromising
hospitality,” says Ms. Petrick, “now and into the future.”
UPMC Passavant
9100 Babcock Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
412-367-6700
UPMC Passavant Cranberry
One St. Francis Way
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
724-772-5300
For more information or a physician referral, call 1-800-533-UPMC
(8762).
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