Excela Health challenged by 'disrupters' in health care market, CEO says - TribLIVE

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Excela Health not only faces competition from larger Pittsburgh-based health systems but also national tech companies “invading” the local market in an effort to change how people receive health care, the Westmoreland County-based system’s top official said.

“The biggest disruption in our health care space is technology,” Excela Health CEO John Sphon told more than 250 community, government and business leaders on Thursday at the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland’s annual luncheon at Saint Vincent College.

Google purchased FitBit, the fitness tracking company, for $2.1 billion in November. Amazon in June acquired online pharmacy PillPack for $750 million. CVS and Aetna plan to open 1,500 “health hubs” that will offer health care services; and Walmart has initiated a health care component, Sphon said.

“We’ll see more and more play by other businesses moving into our health care space,” Sphon said.

Sphon said we think of UMPC, and its nearly $20 billion in annual revenue, as “the 800-pound gorilla” but “they’re nothing” when compared to the CVS/Aetna partnership with its $240 billion in revenue.

In the not-too-distant-future, more health care will be delivered to where patients live, Sphon said.

“Health care in the past was ‘you come to me.’ That has got to stop,” Sphon said.

The most obvious “disrupters” today in Excela’s market are UPMC and Allegheny Health Network, which recently opened a satellite hospital along Route 30 in Hempfield. Excela’s service territory stretches from Connellsville in the south to Saltsburg in the north and from Ligonier west to North Huntingdon.

Not only does Excela Health face competition from the health systems to the west, but West Virginia University Medicine has an affiliation with Uniontown Hospital in Fayette County, Sphon noted.

“There’s no reason to think they will not move north,” Sphon said.

Excela Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant already serves northern sections of Fayette County.

Sphon said he is aware of speculation that UPMC is interested in the property that once housed the Monsour Medical Center along Route 30 in Jeannette. That property is owned by Colony Holding of North Huntingdon. Donald Tarosky Jr., a partner in Colony Holding, could not be reached for comment.

Gloria Kreps, a UPMC spokeswoman, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

One of the goals of Excela’s 10-year strategic plan is to keep patients from leaving Westmoreland County, Sphon said. An average of 46% of patients within its service area of 350,000 people have gone outside the county for treatment, he noted.

To keep more of those patients from traveling to Pittsburgh, Excela has made recruiting physicians and adding expertise to its staff as one of its priorities. It is strengthening its oncology, cardiac, thoracic, orthopedic and peripheral vascular disease departments, Sphon said. He said treatment at Excela’s facilities is as good as the city hospitals, if not better.

“We will be judged based on that,” Sphon said. “We have a great primary (health care) base, so people don’t have to leave the county for care.”

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, [email protected] or via Twitter .

Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review

Excela Health CEO John Sphon speaks Thursday during the Economic Growth Council’s annual meeting at the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College in Unity.

Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review

Excela Health CEO John Sphon speaks Thursday during the Economic Growth Council’s annual meeting at the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College in Unity.