Latrobe-area leaders upbeat about proposed merger of Excela, Butler health systems
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Leaders in the Latrobe area expressed optimism about the future of health care in their community after an announcement that the local system of medical providers, Excela Health, is planning to merge with a similar organization in Butler and Clarion counties.
Officials with Westmoreland County-based Excela have said the move to join forces with Butler Health System is intended to make the new three-county health care system more competitive in the region. Observers in Latrobe note that is bound to be a good prescription for their community.
“I think it’s going to make Excela stronger,” said Terry Carcella, Latrobe city manager. “The bigger you are, the better you are.”
Latrobe’s hospital, which opened in 1910, is one of three that operate under the Excela banner.
“We want that medical facility to continue here,” Carcella said. “It’s a great asset.”
The merger would bring two additional hospitals into a joint arrangement with Excela’s Latrobe, Westmoreland and Frick hospitals.
“The hospitals need to join together to make sure they survive,” said Ralph Jenko, Latrobe city councilman and deputy mayor. “I don’t think it’s anything bad for the community.”
Jenko pointed to the challenges the covid-19 pandemic created for hospitals.
“People have been putting off (elective procedures) because they didn’t want to go into a crowded environment,” he said. “I’m sure it’s been a strain on all of the hospitals.”
Even after receiving millions of dollars in covid-19 relief funds, Excela Health reported a $10.5 million operating loss margin for the nine months ending March 31, compared with operating income of $29.8 million for the same period in 2020-21.
“I think the merger is going to be positive,” said Linda McKenna Boxx, CEO of the Latrobe-based Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation. “The stage was probably set for this merger when the Westmoreland County hospitals joined together. I think management of a small hospital became difficult as competition from the region just got stronger and stronger.”
Excela Health was formed by the merger of Latrobe Area Hospital and the Westmoreland Health System on June 30, 2004. Westmoreland Health System was made up of Westmoreland Regional Hospital in Greensburg and Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant.
“From the foundation’s perspective, anything that makes the Excela system stronger, more competitive and more able to serve the communities and our citizens is a good thing,” said Boxx.
The McKenna Foundation donated $1.5 million toward the Latrobe hospital’s Surgical Institute, which had been projected to cost $10 million to develop. Opened last year, the institute is focused on cancer care and is equipped with an advanced operating room and surgical robot.
“We’re getting good feedback from the hospital on that investment,” Boxx said. “The robot is being used daily, at near-maximum capacity.”
Not everyone is convinced a bigger health system necessarily will be better for those in the Latrobe area who need medical care.
Doris Hankey of Derry misses some of the services that once were available at Latrobe’s hospital but have since been shifted to other facilities in the Excela system.
“I have concerns,” Hankey said Thursday after visiting the Latrobe hospital with a family member. “There’s so many things that have left Latrobe because of the merger. I don’t like that.
“I had concerns when (Latrobe’s hospital) merged with Greensburg and Mt. Pleasant, but that’s worked out OK. Maybe this (merger) will.”
Hankey noted labor and delivery services for expectant mothers now are handled solely at the Greensburg hospital because those services were discontinued in July 2008 at Latrobe. But now, she said, “That doesn’t seem to bother anybody.”
Most outpatient services have moved from the Latrobe hospital to Excela Square at Latrobe, a three-story ambulatory care center that debuted in 2018 off Route 30 in adjacent Unity.
“Certainly we miss them in the city, with all the work that’s been shifted out,” Jenko said of Excela Square. “It’s more of a hardship for our senior population to get to their doctors. Fortunately, there are still doctors in town.
“That was Excela’s choice to put that facility out on Route 30. It probably made it more accessible to the surrounding community.”
Mike O’Barto, chairman of the Unity supervisors, said he believes Excela’s pending merger with the Butler Health System is “probably a good move on their part. It seems to me Excela is trying to remain strong.”
While UPMC and Allegheny Health Network operate major regional health care systems headquartered in Pittsburgh, O’Barto said if Latrobe-area patients “don’t have to go to Pittsburgh and can stay locally, I think that’s a good thing for our community.”
“Excela Health is a big part of our community and a great partner,” said Mike Porembka, superintendent of the Greater Latrobe School District.
Athletic training and mental health services are among district needs that are met by Excela. Porembka expressed interest in a Butler Health System official’s statement that the merger could expand the range of available services.
“The more services we can get for our kids, the better off we are,” Porembka said.
Local municipal and school officials all noted the economic importance of Excela — ranked as the top private employer in the county, with about 4,800 employees.
“If we can attract more jobs to Westmoreland County and keep jobs in the county, that’s obviously a side impact that a merger like this could have for our community,” Porembka said. “If we can attract new families to the Greater Latrobe community, then our (student) enrollment goes up.”
The proposed Excela-Butler merger should “make our health system and our region more attractive, to attract new residents,” said Briana Tomack, president and CEO of the Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce. “We’re pretty excited about it.
“We’ve been losing population for a long time. A lot of different organizations are working to attract new residents.”