CommonSpirit Trinity Health System finalizes transition to UPMC
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STEUBENVILLE -- City and county officials said Wednesday they are excited about the health care opportunities that will grow from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s acquisition of Trinity Health System.
That deal, which was announced a little more than a year ago, is now complete, officials from Trinity and UPMC said Wednesday afternoon.
Beginning Thursday, all of the former Trinity properties will be rebranded as UPMC Trinity. Crews were scheduled to begin changing the signs at the facilities Thursday morning. Included in the transfer were Trinity Medical Centers West and East in Steubenville; Trinity St. Clairsville Neighborhood Hospital; Trinity Twin City Medical Center in Dennison; and all associated clinics and care sites.
“We are proud to officially welcome the Trinity team to UPMC. We look forward to a bright future focused on serving communities of the Ohio Valley with innovation and compassion, advancing care close to home, and improving the health and well-being of every patient who turns to us,” said Leslie Davis, president and CEO of UPMC.
The sale brings an end to Trinity Health System, which was formed from the 1996 merger of Ohio Valley Hospital and St. John Medical Center. The system operated under the sponsorship of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania until 2014, when the system’s Catholic entities were transferred to Catholic Health Initiatives, which, in 2019, merged with Dignity Health to become CommonSpirit Health.
“By integrating Trinity Health System into UPMC, we are building upon a foundation of trusted collaboration to ensure that high-quality, patient-centered care remains accessible and sustainable for years to come,” said Dwayne Richardson, interim market president for CommonSpirit Trinity Health System. “We know that UPMC shares our dedication to clinical excellence.”
With the transaction complete, there will be 46 hospitals operating under the UPMC umbrella. It is UPMC’s first expansion into Ohio. It currently operates hospitals across Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York.
“We had a meeting with UPMC officials last week,” Mayor Ralph Petrella said. “It was a great meeting, and we talked about what gaps UPMC is going to fill and how they are essentially going to expand. They are projecting a lot of growth in a lot of areas, which is really exciting.”
Petrella, who added they don’t see any departments suffering any losses, said UPMC has expertise across numerous segments of health care and would be bringing that to Steubenville.
“One of the really big areas of growth that I think is exciting as we continue to move forward as a city is in women’s care and infant care,” he said. “Pediatrics, children’s and OBGYN services, maternity health -- things like that, which is really exciting as our population continues to grow.”
UPMC has strength in those areas through UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and UPMC-Magee Women’s Hospital.
“It’s a really good thing because they’re going to bring those resources here, where our residents can get them closer to home,” Petrella said.
Jefferson County Commissioner Eric Timmons agreed.
“With the large size of UPMC, I think there will be better offerings and better health care for the citizens of the area,” he said. “It’s been a good partnership so far, getting this to where it is. We’ll just keep moving forward.”
The transfer comes a little more than one year after it was learned on Sept. 22, 2025, that UPMC and Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health had been involved in talks to negotiate a sale. A non-binding letter of intent was signed on Oct. 15, and a definitive agreement was reached on May 4.
Trinity traced its beginnings to what was one of the first hospitals in Steubenville, Gill Memorial Hospital, which opened in 1901 at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Lincoln Place in the city’s North End.
The facility was founded by Joseph J. Gill, an industrialist, entrepreneur and politician who owned the Acme Flint Glass Works in the North End, not too far from where the hospital was built. It was operated by the Kings Daughters until the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania took over in 1931.
Dohrman Sinclair, one of the city’s leading businessmen in the late 1800s and early 1900s, started a municipal hospital that would become Ohio Valley Hospital in 1912 out of the old Lacy Hotel. Sinclair began a campaign to raise money for a permanent site for the hospital, with the final property needed for the project in the Pleasant Heights area of the city purchased in 1913.
That building was opened in 1917.
By 1960, Gill Hospital had run out of space to grow, which led the Sylvanian sisters to open St. John Hospital, which would later become St. John Medical Center, on Johnson Road.
The deal between UPMC and Trinity is the latest change to health care in the Tri-State Area. In January 2025, Weirton Medical Center became a full member of the West Virginia University Health System. That facility, located on Colliers Way, has been rebranded as WVU Medicine Weirton Medical Center.
A UPMC Trinity employee celebration event will be scheduled, officials said.