UPMC to open Specialty Care Center in Greensburg

UPMC is expanding in Greensburg with a new facility housing 14 specialists providing general surgery, cardiac care, sports medicine and other outpatient services.

The 2,520-square-foot UPMC Specialty Care Center at 410 Pellis Road houses physicians as well as a primary care practice. It had a soft opening in June with a few doctors and will hold its grand opening Monday.

The decision to build the new Greensburg facility came as officials were looking for a way to expand the reach of services offered at Monroeville’s UPMC East hospital, according to UPMC East President Mark O’Hern.

UPMC East doubled the size of its emergency department in August and is working on a new retail pharmacy set to open later this year. The Monroeville site is running out of room for growth, O’Hern said.

“We’re at capacity in our existing space,” he said.

The hospital opened in 2012.

“In looking at our market, and trying to actually decompress Monroeville, we identified a lot of patients who are traveling into Monroeville from the Greensburg market,” O’Hern said.

An average of 228 Greensburg residents visit UPMC East each day. Now, many of the services they receive will be offered closer to home, O’Hern said.

“We (didn’t) really have a good local presence for patients to see their physicians,” he said.

The center offers telemedicine and in-person visits. A full list of services provided is available at UPMC’s website.

UPMC is not the only local health provider that has targeted the Greensburg market.

Last year, Allegheny Health Network opened a 120,000-square-foot “micro-hospital” in Hempfield.

Excela Health, which operates hospitals in Latrobe, Greensburg and Mt. Pleasant and provides medical services throughout the county, last month announced a plan to expand services. No details were provided.