UPMC ‘fully committed’ to Prime Time senior services after Trinity takeover
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STEUBENVILLE -- UPMC representatives told the Jefferson County Commissioners Thursday that continuing the Prime Time program is one of their priorities as they take the reins at Trinity Health System next week.
Executive Vice President Joel Yuhas said they're excited about the "investments in this community" that lie ahead as Trinity officially becomes the 46th hospital to join the UPMC network.
UPMC officials have told commissioners they are "fully committed" to preserving and strengthening Prime Time "because we know local seniors rely on its services, particularly meals and transportation, every day" and also pointed to their long history of supporting seniors and community-based services in the regions it serves.
"We are excited about continuing that commitment to the seniors and communities of transportation and meal services," he said. "The program itself would operate at a loss without the tax levy support so we appreciate your consideration of continued funding for that program, and UPMC will continue to subsidize the delta of the program as its community benefit to this region."
Trinity currently subsidizes what the levy doesn't cover -- the delta -- and UPMC would continue doing that.
Yuhas said UPMC traditionally "transforms community with health care," and that's not going to change in Jefferson County.
"We're not part of a system that's thousands of miles away, we're 44 miles away and truly transform communities by identifying where gaps in care exist," he said. "We've been spending a lot of time going back-and-forth between Pittsburgh and Steubenville, getting to meet the medical staff, getting to meet our employees, all of whom signed their employment agreements and physician services agreements so that we can continue to build on that and bring more services to this community, as we've done in others."
Commissioner Eric Timmons said it's an "exciting" time for the community.
"We've been talking about it for a while, the possibility," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes."
Commissioners Jake Kleineke and Tony Morelli said it was "good news," with Morelli adding UPMC's interest in continuing the Prime Time program is a positive, "and they understand that it's going to cost a couple dollars to.
"He said that it won't work without the levy but even with the levy, it's not going to be self-sustainable," he added.