Community Citizenship
While UPMC has gained national and international prominence, its primary commitment is to the communities of western Pennsylvania. With 20 hospitals and hundreds of other care sites, UPMC is unquestionably the predominant health care provider in the region. As the area’s only academic medical center, UPMC is a hub for specialized services. The organization also is the region’s largest employer.
Because UPMC’s success is critical to the economic vitality of the region, the health system draws upon proven practices from the business world to maximize creativity, quality, productivity, and growth.
Economic Impact
UPMC is the largest employer in western Pennsylvania, with a workforce of about 48,000. Throughout the region, it generates an additional 100,000 jobs across a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, wholesale, retail, food service, government, and education.
The region’s largest concentration of new construction can be directly attributed to UPMC. Each year, the health system’s construction activity averages about $215 million, and it supports 2,000 construction-related jobs annually.
As a regional hub of medicine, education, and research, UPMC attracts patients, students, and scientific investment. Each dollar UPMC spends generates an additional $1.25 in the region.
The majority of UPMC’s spending benefits people and businesses rooted in western Pennsylvania: It directs nearly $2 billion to purchase goods and services, much of it to local companies. Last year, UPMC awarded $91.5 million in local purchasing contracts to minority- and women-business owners, adding up to millions of dollars of activity each year.
Social Responsibility
UPMC contributes to the good health of the region by giving back to the community more than $260 million each year in services, charitable contributions, and uncompensated care. In addition, the health system has designed initiatives to eliminate regional health care disparities, such as disproportionately high levels of illness among minorities. Together, UPMC’s hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers participate in a collaboration of care that leads to healthy communities and healthy lives.
While hospitals everywhere sponsor community outreach activities, UPMC stands out because its Board of Directors has requested and endorsed two systemwide initiatives with participation by each hospital: one to address the high incidence of diabetes in western Pennsylvania, the other focused on respiratory disease, particularly asthma.
In addition, each UPMC hospital sponsors projects tailored to the particular needs of its service area. These range from farm safety in rural areas to dental services for residents of urban public housing. Some hospitals target school-based programs, focusing on childhood obesity, infection control, postponing sexual involvement, and smoking prevention. Others focus on older adults, immunizations, violence against women, prenatal care, fitness, weight management, CPR training, and youth recreation. UPMC is forging new partnerships beyond the more than 3,000 community initiatives currently in place.
UPMC also supports a number of hospital foundations that contribute to the region’s quality of life. Most of these foundations are community-focused, funding programs that provide housing and help for chemically addicted, homeless women; prevention and educational programs; economic revitalization campaigns, which impact a wide range of issues from job creation to housing; and scholarship opportunities in the health care professions.
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