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Allegheny Health Network Picks Westmoreland County For Site Of Its First Neighborhood Hospital

Allegheny Health Network
Allegheny Health Network's illustration of a proposed neighborhood hospital. The first of four will be located in Westmoreland County.

Westmoreland County is getting a new hospital in Hempfield Township at the junction of Route 30 and Agnew Road. 

AHN Hempfield is the first of four so-called “neighborhood" hospitals planned by Allegheny Health Network. 

No other locations have been announced.

At the Monday afternoon press conference in Greenburg, AHN’s CEO Cynthia Hundorfean said the neighborhood hospital will bring care to patients where they live.

"We’re going to be able to customize each of these facilities based on the neighborhood," she said. "Things like neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, urology will be customized to the neighborhood based on what their needs are, and we can flex that as we go along."

AHN Hempfield's on-site specialties will include neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, thoracic surgery, cardiology, breast surgery and women's sub-specialties. The hospital will also provide primary care and have an emergency department.

Thomas Campbell, the network's head of emergency medicine, said the new ER is needed to alleviate congestion at larger hospitals in the region.

"Over the last 15 years, many emergency departments have seen an increase in visits," he said. "This new model will really help that out."

Ground is scheduled to break early next year ahead of summer 2019 opening, pending state approval.

Sarah Boden covers health and science for 90.5 WESA. Before coming to Pittsburgh in November 2017, she was a reporter for Iowa Public Radio. As a contributor to the NPR-Kaiser Health News Member Station Reporting Project on Health Care in the States, Sarah's print and audio reporting frequently appears on NPR and KFF Health News.