Faced with declining revenues and ever-rising costs, hospitals today cannot afford to stand still. Westmoreland Regional Hospital isn’t. Already it’s shaping up to be a year of substantial changes at the Greensburg medical center, starting at the top with last month’s exit of Chief Executive Officer Joseph Peluso. While the circumstances of his departure are not public knowledge, it’s become clear Westmoreland Regional’s board wants to take the hospital in a new direction. It has about 5 million reasons to do so. That’s the amount, in dollars, of this year’s unanticipated fiscal shortfall. The sum is not enough to cripple operations, officials say. Nor is it to be ignored. Rather, it’s indicative of a regionwide trend: Hospitals on average have experienced a 38 percent drop in revenues while operating margins have dipped from 2.3 percent to less than 1 percent over the past year, according to the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania. The outlook isn’t expected to get better anytime soon. Rather than sink deeper into a quagmire of fiscal uncertainty, Westmoreland Regional is taking a hard look at its operations. Those at the helm are talking to those in the trenches — particularly the hospital’s medical staff, whose insights some say have been ignored in the past. The jobs of the health system’s dozen vice presidents are under review, as well. Upon completion of an internal study, trustees will decide whether Westmoreland Regional should affiliate with a larger health-care system or stay its independent course. No doubt some difficult decisions lie ahead for Westmoreland Regional’s board. Those who rely on the hospital’s various medical services can at least take comfort in knowing that its leadership has prescribed a proactive, rather than reactive, course of treatment against the many ills that plague health care today.

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