UPMC bestows the gift of public rage
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As grateful as any of us may be for the good health care we've received from UPMC, we can be even more grateful for two reminders that UPMC's recent decisions provide.
In these lean and mean times, the health care giant reminds us first that lack of competition always makes life meaner and leaner -- for the consumer.
As wonderful as UPMC's employees and facilities are, it's hard to view the $8 billion conglomerate's actions over the past few years as anything but an attempt to destroy -- or severely hobble -- the competition. And if they win, we lose -- no matter where we get our health care.
The second timely lesson from UPMC is that high-handedness is not a winning public relations strategy.
UPMC teaches us these important lessons by failing to honor them. But they may have re-learned one of those lessons -- the beauty of competition -- in the nick of time.
People had been complaining for years that for a nonprofit, UPMC sure knew how to rack up some hefty profits. Didn't this mean that local citizens were paying too much for their health care? The resentment was a constant low-grade murmur.
Then in 2009 UPMC moved to close down its Braddock facility -- a hospital that had served the beleaguered low-income community for decades -- while building a shiny new outpost in the already well-served middle-class suburb of Monroeville. The outcry was swift and sustained. Wasn't this a betrayal of UPMC's charitable imperative?
The comments from customers, civic leaders and even employees were scathing. I got an earful -- rather, an inbox-full -- after writing a column deploring their action.
The column contained an error, by the way: Using UPMC's statement that the facility treated Braddock and "surrounding" ZIP codes, I tried to analyze why some patients in those ZIP codes might use other hospitals for certain needs. But Braddock's service area did not comprise "surrounding" ZIP codes, which would have included a few somewhat upscale enclaves; it covered even more lower-income areas than I'd thought -- a fact which, if reported correctly, would have been even more damning.
And the scathing mail that poured in wasn't directed at me -- it was directed at UPMC. Any large, powerful entity tends to provoke fear and thus ill will, and every business has its share of disgruntled employees and customers.
That said, the mail I received was unusually thoughtful and well-informed. One writer captured the health care giant's increasingly arrogant image: UPMC, he said, stands for "U People Must Conform."
First Published October 31, 2011 12:00 am
