Officials of Westmoreland-Latrobe Health Partners told Latrobe residents and mental health officials they do not yet know whether the realignment of the hospitals’ mental health units will require any layoffs. CEO David Gallatin and President Doug Clark told 55 people Tuesday night at the Science Center Amphitheater at St. Vincent College in Unity Township that a reorganization plan will have to be in place before they can determine whether any jobs will be cut. “We haven’t figured that out yet,” Clark said. “It’s a question of striking a balance between providing appropriate staffing levels and being efficient.” However, Clark added that there are “dozens” of vacant jobs in the system that will be filled before any decision is made on layoffs. The new health system — a merger of Westmoreland Regional Hospital in Greensburg, Latrobe Area Hospital and Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant — held a second public meeting in as many days to brief residents on the merger. The next sessions will be at 7 p.m. Monday at The Kiski School in Saltsburg. Gallatin and Clark announced Monday that the hospitals will consolidate their mental health treatment operations by October. Westmoreland Regional Hospital will handle inpatient adult treatment while Latrobe will be the site for pediatric and adolescent admissions. Each hospital will continue to operate separate outpatient services. The shift in services will create a department with a staff of 12 psychiatrists and more than 33 therapists, although officials could not provide the size of the total work force. Gallatin said the two hospitals lost a total of $1 million for treating the mentally ill in the past fiscal year and have had to use some of the revenue from their more profitable treatment areas to cover the losses. “How will we be able to pay for this in the future• That’s why the realignment of services,” he said. Gallatin said no decisions have been made on what other departments may be realigned or consolidated as the merger progresses. He said once decisions are made, there will be public meetings to explain any changes. After two nights of questioning, there has not been any public criticism of the merger, even though Monday’s turnout was sparse. One man asked Gallatin and Clark whether they were disappointed by the attendance. “To be perfectly candid, my reaction is very positive,” Clark said. “It’s not the number of people but the quality of the questions.” Gallatin said he believes the public understands the need for merging and supports the plan. “We have not gotten any negative responses from the medical staff or our employees,” Gallatin added. “I think this merger passes the gut-check test.” He also revealed that system representatives have been meeting with officials of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, West Penn Allegheny Health System and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, although neither Gallatin nor Clark would explain what the discussions are about. The revelation was in response to a question about continuing physician relationships with the facilities because some doctors at both hospitals are affiliated with UPMC or West Penn Allegheny. One area that is under discussion, according to Clark, is the continuing relationship between Latrobe and UPMC, which co-owns the Arnold Palmer Pavilion/UPMC Cancer Center in Unity Township. Gallatin said he believes the larger health-care systems support the merger, but the question remains whether they will get access to local patients in need of advanced treatment that only Pittsburgh-based hospitals now provide. “They would want to work with us, I would think, and I think they do,” Gallatin said.

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