Newswise — Tyrone Regional Health Network and Penn State Health have signed a letter of intent to enter into formal affiliation. With approval by organizational boards and state authorities, Tyrone Regional will become a member of Penn State Health.
The affiliation will bring together a community-based healthcare network with a reputation for high-quality care and excellent customer service with a high-performing university health system to provide increased access to a wider range of services for residents of the Northern Blair County area.
In January 2015, Tyrone Regional leaders announced they were interested in forming a relationship with a larger organization that shares their vision and values. Over the past several months, with assistance from Juniper Advisory, Tyrone completed a structured and deliberate process to evaluate its relationship options. The process led them to Penn State Health.
“Over the past several years we have grown from Tyrone Hospital to Tyrone Regional Health Network. Our working relationships with other healthcare providers have allowed us to enhance our patient services and fueled our recent growth,” said Kelly Wike, president of the Tyrone Regional Health Network board of directors. “Becoming a member of Penn State Health will help us to do much more. It gives us the potential to provide people in our service area greater access to an increased range of healthcare services and a broader spectrum of care.”
“An affiliation between Tyrone Regional Health Network and Penn State Health means that patients in Blair County will have better access to our university health system’s scope of services, depth of expertise, breadth of scientific discovery and advanced technology,” said Dr. A. Craig Hillemeier, CEO of Penn State Health. “We look forward to having the opportunity to work with Tyrone Regional’s physicians and health care professionals, along with the community providers in that region, to improve the health and well-being of the community.”
Stephen C. Gildea, CEO of Tyrone Regional, said that becoming a member of Penn State Health will bring tremendous opportunity. “The healthcare industry is changing rapidly due to healthcare reform. Healthcare providers are continually challenged to improve quality of care, increase access to care, lower the cost of care and improve the health of people in the community. We will be in a better position to address these challenges as a member of Penn State Health. This relationship will also bring greater opportunity for innovation in meeting the growing and diverse health needs of people in the communities we serve.”
The two organizations will now work together to determine in more detail what their relationship will look like with Tyrone Regional as a member of Penn State Health. Once the due diligence process is completed, the affiliation will be considered for approval by the Penn State Board of Trustees, Penn State Health Board of Directors, Tyrone Regional Board of Directors and state authorities. The process is expected to be completed by late 2015 or early 2016. Tyrone Regional and Penn State Health will continue to operate separately in the meantime.
About Tyrone Regional Health Network: Tyrone Hospital was founded by the community in 1954. In June 2014, Tyrone Regional Health Network was announced as a new name for Tyrone Hospital to better reflect the hospital’s growth and the broad and varied relationships it has formed with physicians and other entities across the region in recent years. TRHN consists of Tyrone Hospital which is a twenty-five bed community hospital that provides general medical and surgical care, twenty-four hour emergency care, primary care physician services in Tyrone, the Pinecroft area of Altoona, State College and Houtzdale and management services for the Glendale Area Medical Center in Coalport, the Breast Cancer & Women’s Health Institute, an Orthopedic Center of Excellence in partnership with Blair Orthopedics and University Orthopedics Center, physical and occupational therapy services and the Tyrone Fitness and Wellness Center in partnership with ProCare, Davita kidney dialysis services, occupational health services and a growing variety of physician specialists many of whom reside directly on the hospital’s campus providing services that include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, gynecology, breast surgery, general surgery, ophthalmology, optometry, nephrology, sports medicine, orthopedic surgery, cardiology, podiatry, physiatry, gastroenterology, radiology, ENT and others.
About Penn State Health: Penn State Health is a not-for-profit entity created by Penn State in September 2014. Reading-based St. Joseph Regional Health Network became the inaugural member of Penn State Health on July 1.
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