Highmark Health, AHN Announce Plans to Transform Allegheny General Hospital Campus

New Cardiovascular Tower is Centerpiece of $1 Billion, 10-Year Investment Plan for AHN’s Flagship Academic Medical Center  

PITTSBURGH – Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network (AHN) officials today reinforced a commitment to their Living Health model by announcing plans for continued significant investments in the network. Specifically, Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), AHN’s flagship academic medical center, will be transformed with a new cardiovascular tower and emergency department, among other upgrades, further advancing and modernizing the hospital’s care delivery and technological capabilities.

Approximately $1 billion will be invested in the AGH campus as part of the 10-year transformation plan which, in addition to the cardiovascular tower and emergency department, will include multiple other major construction and renovation projects aimed at extending the hospital’s long history of clinical excellence and innovation – while also solidifying its leading role in the Living Health model.

“Creating high-quality patient experiences and outcomes, and equitable access, through personalized care models designed to promote wellness and address health needs, is our goal at AHN. Our system, and its facilities and programs, are the essence of Living Health and the commitment we have made to improving health care quality and affordability in the communities we serve,” said Jim Benedict, president, AHN. “Today’s exciting announcement about the future of AGH is another partnering step in that journey with Highmark Health, and in the continuing evolution and growth of our network as an unsurpassed source of comfort, healing and wellness.”

The centerpiece of the AGH campus transformation is construction of a new patient tower which will house the nationally recognized services of the AHN Cardiovascular Institute (CVI). The new facility will serve as a state-of-the-art nexus of diagnostic, medical and surgical care for patients with heart and vascular disease, including transplantation. It will be built at the corner of Sandusky Street and East North Avenue, adjacent to the AGH Academic Cancer Center which opened in 2020 and serves as the health system’s hub for cancer care innovation and research.

A multi-phased construction of the new CVI tower is expected to begin in early 2025 pending all necessary municipal and regulatory approvals, and it will open in 2030. The facility is expected to have more than 100 private inpatient beds, in addition to state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology, cardiac surgery, stress echocardiography, wound care, nuclear medicine and other procedural spaces. It will house a dedicated cardiovascular intensive care unit, multi-disciplinary cardiovascular clinics, physician offices and an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program.

The ground floor of the tower will also accommodate the newly expanded and upgraded emergency department, supporting the hospital’s state-of-the-art emergency and trauma capabilities.

“This beautiful new facility will surround patients and their families with every resource in one central location on our campus, including highly specialized outpatient clinics and state-of-the art inpatient and procedural suites equipped with the most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic technologies available,” said Stephen Bailey, MD, chair, AHN Cardiovascular Institute. “It will be a magnificent structure that complements the world-class team working within its walls, and one that will attract patients and leading clinicians from around the world,” he said. 

Like AHN’s other recently opened new facilities, both caregivers and patients will play a role in helping to design the new CVI tower and emergency department to assure that their perspectives help create a patient and caregiver-centered facility.

The tower’s large in-patient rooms will have ample space for patient visitors and plenty of natural light. Equipment will be selected and stationed to maximize safety, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of caregivers. Patients will be able to control their own room temperature, lighting and entertainment with the touch of a button. The rooms will also feature leading-edge digital capabilities for virtual clinician consultations and for patient families to remotely join discussions with care teams.

“For more than a century, AGH has served as a regional and national destination for outstanding, pioneering health care in cardiovascular medicine and many other disciplines. We are thrilled to now be charting a future course for the campus that will honor this incredible legacy and assure that it continues for generations to come,” said Benedict.

As one of Western Pennsylvania’s top referral centers for advanced medical care, AGH has routinely been recognized for the quality and sophistication of the services it provides, including its management of complex health issues. The hospital has received “A” grades from Leapfrog for the quality of its programs and recently earned Magnet certification for nursing excellence. AGH is also one of the top performing organ transplant centers in the state.

To minimize disruption to the community and patient care, construction of the new CVI tower will be undertaken in a phased process that will begin with a sizable expansion of the hospital’s emergency and trauma services, and rerouting of patient and ambulance traffic to it.

Assembling all CVI care in the new tower will also allow for better positioning of other key medical disciplines and services across the campus, and make way for additional significant capital investments, including renovation and modernization of the hospital’s operating rooms, the transition to all-private inpatient rooms elsewhere on the campus, upgrades to lobbies and other common spaces, and the future construction of a new medical office building.

One such project already underway at the hospital is the creation of a new hub for the AHN Neuroscience Institute. The hospital’s five-story former cancer center at the corner of Hemlock and James Streets is being renovated to house a state-of-the-art, one-stop location, providing comprehensive diagnostic, medical and surgical care for neurological diseases.

“Over the past decade, Highmark Health and AHN have delivered on every promise made to our community, by investing in world-class health care facilities and programs and by ensuring access for everyone who needs them,” said Imran Qadeer, MD, president, AGH. “Today, we are seeing yet another great example of that commitment for AGH, and our 5,000 strong caregiving team. We are extremely grateful for the ongoing support of our leaders, neighbors and partners who recognize that as AGH continues to grow and thrive, so too will the communities it serves,” he said.

AGH representatives have worked closely over the last several years with the Northside Leadership Conference and other local community groups to ensure the hospital’s plans align with the community’s best interests. Hospital leaders will continue to engage with the community, its care teams, and its patients and families to keep them informed and garner feedback as construction begins and progresses.

Today’s announcement follows approval last fall of the AGH Institutional Master Plan (IMP) by the City of Pittsburgh. IMPs serve as a standard framework for large institutional development within the City, and AHN will continue to follow all required approval processes for planned construction projects on the AGH campus.

The development plan for the hospital is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs, Benedict said. 

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