UPMC Braddock to close Jan. 2010

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is closing its waning Braddock branch next January because of low use.

Vice President of Public Relations Paul Wood says UPMC Braddock is tending to an average of only 51 patients per day, and losing an average of more than $4 million every year since 2003. He says that’s because four out of five Braddock residents are going elsewhere for treatment.

He says “most” of the 670 employees will be offered jobs elsewhere in the UPMC hospital network after the January 31 close.

Wood says some services will remain in Braddock indefinitely.

“UPMC will continue to operate all the key community-based outpatient programs in Braddock. We will work with the local physicians, and there’s 60 local physician practices in the area, to expand access to primary care for area residents, and we’re going to work with the community on the disposition and redevelopment of the building and the land,” says Wood.

He says the hospital will phase out services gradually until the closing date.