A job well done can be measured by whether one is leaving a place better than one found it.
After two years at the helm of Upper Allegheny Health System, Dr. Jill Owens is stepping down, confident that the hospital system is “well along the path to financial sustainability.”
A Bradford native, Owens will return to her private practice, and will work as a hospitalist in the health system. She’s worked hard to see Bradford Regional Medical Center and Olean General Hospital be successful.
“My favorite moment was seeing our 2024 budget come in $40 million better than the 2023 budget,” Owens said. “My number one goal in taking this role was to achieve financial sustainability and, while still a lot of work to do, I knew at that moment we would be successful as a system with the model we were building.”
BRMC and OGH are essential to each other, she said.
“OGH is large enough and has enough specialists to function as a full-service rural referral center which has allowed us to recruit doctors to come to and live in the area that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to in small rural communities,” Owens explained. “The BRMC campus and the population that it serves, although smaller, provides the patient base to attract enough specialists to cover calls for the region as well allowing the two campuses to qualify for sole community hospital status which brings financial incentives to help close the reimbursement gap.
“Our one hospital, two campus model is clearly stronger together and will help solidify care for the region,” she said. “These communities deserve access to healthcare and no one is going to continue to dump money into a losing system. We had to build a model that could sustain itself and we are doing it!”
Owens lauded the people who work for UAHS.
“We have great staff, in every area of our organization, that have answered the call to work harder, more efficiently and put our patients first. It was a heavy lift to turn the financial situation around and the reason we have been successful is all of their hard work,” she said.
“The UAHS doctors, right here in Olean and Bradford, are some of the best in the world and stepped up to drive the business and turn the organization around. I am thrilled to return to their ranks again and take care of patients at the bedside.”
She spoke of handing off the baton to a seasoned healthcare leader to carry UAHS forward.
“I’m certainly not done, although I hope I never work as hard again with as much stress as during these last two years,” she said.
“I want to return to what I love — taking care of people,” Owens said. “The people in these communities are my friends and family and it’s a pleasure to give back. I’ve not only been able to achieve my dreams of being a doctor in my hometown, but also have been able to impact the access to care for the region and the sustainability of local healthcare.”
For those who are considering the healthcare field, Owens shared this: “I hope our young people in healthcare fields as well as others will consider coming home to ‘take care of their own.’ It has been extremely rewarding for me to have this opportunity and all the more special to do it here.”
