Cardiac surgeons joining UPMC from other local hospitals

Two well-known, independent cardiac surgeons are joining the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and will no longer see patients at rivals Jefferson Regional Medical Center and The Western Pennsylvania Hospital's Forbes beginning in the fall. In a joint letter to other doctors, Venkat Machiraju, MD, and Dr. Claudio Lima, MD, said the transition would begin July 1 and the new affiliation would "improve the financial security of our practice, provide us relief from its administrative burdens, and most importantly, give us better on-call coverage as we participate in a larger practice." Their move from RAJ Cardiovascular Associates to UPMC is part of a trend of private doctors choosing the safety of a large health system over the vulnerability of running an independent medical practice.