Merger highlights changes to health care in Butler County
Over the past year, health systems in Butler County expanded provider offerings, implemented new surgical technology, took on multimillion dollar renovation projects and made moves that officials say will make recruiting staff easier.
Among the most significant changes Butler County residents saw was the merger of Butler Health System and Excela Health into Independence Health System on Jan. 1, creating a network of five hospitals, 7,300 employees and more than 1,000 providers to a population of more than 700,000 people across five counties.
Ken DeFurio, CEO of Independence Health System, said that among many changes to the hospitals created by the merger, the move ultimately expanded accessibility for Butler County patients.
“Our effort has been gaining those efficiencies and looking for opportunities to make the system run more efficiently,” DeFurio said. “To be able to say, ‘We are this large, we cover this geography and a population of this size,’ has made it far easier to recruit physicians and staff as well, including management staff.”
To the south, UPMC Passavant is making upgrades to its Cranberry Township and McCandless campuses, some of which were unveiled in August and created specifically to give visitors a better first impression of the hospital.
UPMC Passavant-Cranberry began a $6.6 million renovation this summer as part of its ongoing “First Impressions” projects. The updates will remake the main lobby and the nurse’s station at Cranberry Township, adding some new and improved features to the facility.
“Those renovations are just starting,” said Susan Hoolahan, president of UPMC Passavant.
The plans include updating the bathrooms and putting in a self-serve convenience store area, Hoolahan said.
DeFurio said that building a network of hospitals and health care providers that includes Butler Memorial Hospital adds resources to the Butler County offerings of Independence Health System. Talk of the merger began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when costs were “skyrocketing” for everything from gauze to staff wages.
According to DeFurio, the merger created the third-largest health system in Western Pennsylvania, allowing for talk of new service offerings at the hospitals under the Independence Health System. Neurosurgery and thoracic surgery are high on the list of programs to develop at Butler Memorial, DeFurio said, because people in the region need those options close to home.
“Much like heart attacks, strokes and abnormalities of the head and brain attacks, time is everything. If you can save the brain, you can save lives,” DeFurio said. “Thoracic surgery is another example. We have an unbelievable team of thoracic surgeons doing primarily heart-related procedures.
“Now that we're serving this very large population of over 700,000 people over five counties, we can have an advanced thoracic surgery program.”
In addition to the added care options, Karen Allen, president of Butler Memorial and Clarion hospitals, said the health system is working to upgrade its “care center,” which connects patients to care through a call center database. Allen and DeFurio said the back end operations of the care system involves “immense” infrastructure, which could be improved by the merger.
“That involves a lot of boots-on-the-ground work to improve access to care. We have teams working on templates for scheduling,” she said. “We monitor how people are responding to their ability to schedule. We’re looking at a 90% satisfaction rate with our call center now, which is a big improvement over where we were.”
DeFurio said the health system is in the early stages of planning for upgrades to the emergency department at Butler Memorial Hospital. He said long wait times at the emergency room are unacceptable, and the recent merger makes upgrades possible within the coming years.
“It has to be addressed, and it will be addressed, and we’ll figure out how to do it successfully,” DeFurio said. “I hope that when we talk next year this time, at minimum we can show you some renderings of what this thing is going to be and it’s priced out and designed.”
According to Hoolahan, the advantages of UPMC Passavant being part of the largest health system in Western Pennsylvania means that needs can be identified and addressed relatively quickly. She said patients in Butler County, and around the region, have easy access to the Cranberry Township location.
Administrators are looking at ways to initiate and grow necessary services in that location, she said.
“We pull patients certainly from our local ZIP code areas, from all the way up to Mercer County to toward Ohio, especially because the easy access with 79 and the Turnpike,” she said. “There's some key signature services; one is a heart and vascular institute — when we survey needs in the community, heart and vascular stroke care always rises to the top — along with cancer care. In addition to that, women's health services.”
Keith Lorenz, vice president of operations at UPMC Passavant, said the Cranberry Township campus is being renovated to make the facility more comfortable and easy to navigate for patients, seeing that its service area is growing. Namely, the entrances and the waiting area are targets for improvement, according to Lorenz.
“The places we are bringing our patients in from are the heart and vascular institute, the cancer center and to Magee. Each one of those services have their names on the (outside of the) building,” Lorenz said. “We created a retail pharmacy, so patients who are being discharged can pick their medications up here as they are leaving. It really enhances quality of care for our patients.”
Patients who visit UPMC Passavant-Cranberry may also be referred to another specialist or another hospital in the UPMC network, for more specific care or treatment.
“We have what is called Med-Call, which is a dispatch center, so if there is a patient in another facility and perhaps they don't have the resources,” Hoolahan said, “they can contact Med-Call, and they will refer a physician up with one at UPMC and place that patient wherever is best suited for care.”
Vision and dental care have also seen new developments in Butler County throughout 2023.
Dr. Robert Todd, of Butler Smiles Dental Care, said elective procedures have become more and more popular in dentistry in recent years, thanks to some new technology that can even help with standard dental procedures.
“People want their teeth straightened,” he said, noting that there are ways to do so without braces now.
“Tooth whitening is another common one,” Todd said.
Another recent change at his office includes using digital scanners to take teeth impressions.
Additionally, X-ray technology has helped improve the process of identifying issues with teeth and mouths, according to Dr. Mark Marion, owner and founder of Marion Smile Center in Zelienople.
“It gives us a three-dimensional look of an area,” Marion said. “You can see the extent of a lesion or cancer or something like that.”
New 3D technology has also helped improve eye surgeries, and Scott & Christie EyeCare Associates in Cranberry Township, is just one local practice utilizing new tools.
Dr. Chris Spearman of the practice said most cataract surgeries are completed in 10 to 15 minutes, and even complex procedures can be completed in less than 30 minutes.
“Times are getting shorter and recovery is getting quicker,” he said. “And other than being faster and easier, the outcomes are more predictable or improved.
“It’s completely painless, and people usually get good vision within one to two days after surgery. It’s really quick gratification, which is good for me and good for the patient.”
