Allegheny Health Teaming With Johns Hopkins

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network plans to announce "a formal affiliation" between the seven-hospital network and the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore.

Allegheny Health spokesman Dan Laurent confirmed the deal Wednesday.

Allegheny Health Network, which is owned by health insurer Highmark Inc., scheduled a news conference Wednesday to announce the deal at the cancer center of its flagship, Allegheny General Hospital.

The move comes as Allegheny Health and Highmark continue to compete with the much larger University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the western Pennsylvania region's dominant hospital network.

Allegheny Health was created last year after Highmark bought the West Penn Allegheny Health System and two other western Pennsylvania hospitals.

Laurent says the agreement won't require Pittsburgh-area cancer patients to be treated in Baltimore.

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