LAST CALL FOR TWAT...THE WAR AGAINST TYRANNY...LE-JIT 15202...412-313-3080...STOP HIDDEN HOSPITAL HOLOCAUST FOR ORGANS...GOT TWAT...IT'S LAST CALL...1-800-225-5324...FBI...LINDA O BRIDGENS, DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL RECORDS AGH ALLEGHENY GENERAL HOSPITAL...STOP ZAPPALA MURDER RING...Murder for body parts...T.W.A.T.... ...T.W.A.T.---HIM DIRECTOR LINDA O. BRIDGENS, GIVE ME RITA JOANNE CONLEY'S COMPLETE MEDICAL RECORDS BEFORE YOU DESTROY THEM ON 911 2016!!!...Wanda Peurass... From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article has an unclear citation style. (November 2009) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (January 2012) Murder of human beings for their body parts is widely condemned and considered a crime under the law of most countries. Such practices have been confirmed or suspected to occur within a handful of contexts. Medicine murder (not to be confused with 'medical murder' due to medical negligence) means the killing of a human being in order to excise body parts to use as medicine or for magical purposes in witchcraft. Medicine murder is not viewed as a form of human sacrifice in a religious sense, because the motivation is not the death of a human or the effecting of magical changes through the death of a human being, but the obtaining of an item or items from their corpse to be used in traditional medicine. Its practice in the format described below occurs primarily in sub-equatorial Africa[citation needed]. Medicine murder in southern Africa has been documented in some small detail in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, although it is a difficult subject to investigate because of its controversial standing in customary practices and laws. Very few research and discussion documents have been devoted to this subject. Three concerning Lesotho were published in 1951, 2000 and 2005 regarding the same events in the 1940s and 1950s; one concerning Swaziland was published in 1993 covering the 1970s and 1980s; and a commission of enquiry held in South Africa in 1995 covering medicine murder and witchcraft in the 1980s and 1990s. The illegal organ trade has at times led to murder for body parts, because of a worldwide demand of organs for transplant and organ donors. At times, criminal organizations have engaged in kidnapping people, especially children and teens, with the victims being killed and their organs harvested for the illegal organ trade.[1][2] The extent is unknown, and non-fatal organ theft and removal is more widely reported than murder. In 2006, China was reported to be using its extensive pool of Falun Gong political prisoners as a supply for body parts to be used in transplants. The allegations and supporting testimony were raised in several countries and seen as deeply disturbing. Reports[3][4][5][6] and testimony found that such prisoners were routinely assessed for transplants and apparent tissue typing, in a manner with no relevance to ordinary patient wellbeing, and that many were subsequently executed to meet demand for matching organs. Data on availability and speed of transplants within China (under 2 - 3 weeks in some cases compared to years elsewhere) led several renowned doctors to state that the statistics and transplant rates seen would be impossible without access to a very large pool of pre-existing donors already available on very short notice for hearts and other organs; several governments also established restrictions intended to target such a practice.[7] China denied such practices. Historically, anatomy murders took place during the earlier parts of modern Western medicine. In the 19th century, the human body was still poorly understood, but fresh cadavers for dissection and anatomical study were sometimes difficult to obtain. Mortuaries remained the most common source, but in some cases, such as the notorious English murderers Burke and Hare, victims were killed instead and the killers then sold the bodies for study. The practice has intermittently been reported since that time; in 1992 Colombian activist Juan Pablo Ordoñez, claimed that 14 poor residents of the town of Barranquilla had been killed for local medical study[8] with a purported account by an alleged escapee being publicized by the international press.[9] Contents [hide] 1 Body parts for magical purposes ('Medicine murder') 1.1 Purpose and frequency 1.2 Methodology 1.3 Variances 1.4 Notable cases 1.4.1 1994 Segametsi Mogomotsi 1.4.2 2001 Thames torso case 1.4.3 2009 Masego Kgomo 2 Illegal organ trade murders (the 'Red trade') 3 Execution of prisoners of conscience in China to satisfy organ harvesting demand 4 Murder for dissection and study 5 See also 6 References 6.1 Other sources 7 External links Body parts for magical purposes ('Medicine murder')[edit] Purpose and frequency[edit] Medicine murder is often termed ritual murder or muthi / muti murder, although there is evidence to suggest that the degree of ritual involved in the making of medicine is only a small element of the practice overall. The objective of medicine murder is to create traditional medicine based partly on human flesh. Social anthropological ethnographies have documented anecdotes of medicine murder in southern Africa since the 1800s, and research has shown that incidences of medicine murder increase in times of political and economic stress. The practice is commonly associated with witchcraft, although ethnographic evidence suggests that this has not always been the case, and that it may have been accorded local-level political sanction. Medicine murder is difficult to describe concisely, as it has changed over time, involving an ever-greater variety of perpetrator, victim, method and motive. Most detailed information about the minutiae of medicine murder is derived from state witnesses in trials, court records and third-party anecdote. The phenomenon is widely acknowledged to occur in southern Africa, although no country has issued an accurate and up to date record of the frequency with which it takes place. This is not only because of the secrecy of the practice, given its controversial status, but also because of difficulties in classifying subcategories of murder. Medicine murder has been a topic of urban legends in South Africa, but this does not diminish its status as a practice that has resulted in legal trials and convictions of perpetrators. Methodology[edit] The perpetrators are usually men, although women have been convicted as well, most notably in Swaziland when Phillippa Mdluli[10][11] was hanged in 1983 for commissioning a medicine murder. Perpetrators vary widely in age and social status. An individual or group of individuals commissions a traditional healer or inyanga / nanga (a herbalist skilled in traditional medicine) to assist them by concocting medicine (or muti). The medicine supposedly strengthens the 'personality' or personal force of the person who commissions the medicine. This increased personal force enables the person to excel in business, politics, or other sphere of influence. A human victim is identified for murder in order to create the medicine. Victims vary widely in age and social standing. They are often young children or elderly people, and are both male and female. In some instances, the victim is identified and 'purchased' via a transaction involving an often nominal amount of money. The victim is then abducted, often at night, and taken to an isolated place, often in the open countryside if the murder is being committed in a rural area. It is usually intended that the victim be mutilated while conscious, so that the medicine can be made more potent through the noises of the victim in agony. Mutilation does not take place in order to kill the victim, but it is expected that the victim will die of the wounds. Body parts excised mostly include soft tissue - eyelids, lips, scrota, labia - although there have been instances where entire limbs have been severed. These body parts are removed to be mixed with medicinal plants to create a medicine through a cooking process. The resulting medicine is sometimes consumed, but is often made into a paste that is carried on the person of the perpetrator or rubbed onto scarifications. Variances[edit] Since the 1970s, the manner in which medicine murder is practiced has become altered to the methods described above, although the continued practice of medicine murder demonstrates that belief in human flesh as a powerful medicinal component remains strong in some communities. It would appear that medicine murder in the 18th and 19th centuries may have been considered the legitimate domain of traditional chiefs and leaders, in order to improve agriculture and protect against war (see Human sacrifice). Following industrialisation and growth of commerce, the range of purposes for which medicine was used to increase influence expanded significantly. In the early 1990s when South Africa was experiencing internal political strife between several political groupings, it became clear that some mutilations for medicine were opportunistic and incidental to the assassination of political opponents. There have also been occurrences of mutilation of corpses in medical facilities. In not all cases does the employment of a traditional healer seem to have been thought necessary to the process. Notable cases[edit] 1994 Segametsi Mogomotsi[edit] In 1994, a 14-year-old named Segametsi Mogomotsi was murdered in Mochudi, Botswana and body parts removed. The killing was widely believed to have been for muti, and the police even recovered some excised organs. However, these were destroyed before being tested to establish them as human, leading to accusations of police complicity with the murder. The killing led to riots as students in Mochudi protested about police inaction, and eventually Scotland Yard from Britain were asked to investigate, as neutral outsiders. Their report was given to the Botswana government, which did not release it to the public. These events inspired some of the events in the book The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. 2001 Thames torso case[edit] Main article: Adam (murder victim) A little boy whose headless and limbless body was found floating in the Thames in 2001 was identified by an arrestee in March 2011. The five-year-old’s identity has remained a mystery after he was smuggled into Britain and murdered in a voodoo-style ritual killing. He was drugged with a ‘black-magic’ potion and sacrificed before being thrown into the Thames, where his torso washed up next to the Globe Theatre in September 2001. Detectives used pioneering scientific techniques to trace radioactive isotopes in his bones to his native Nigeria. They even enlisted Nelson Mandela to appeal for information about the murder.[12] They struggled to formally identify the boy, whom they called Adam, despite travelling to the West African state to try to trace his family. Nigerian Joyce Osiagede, the only person to be arrested in Britain as part of the inquiry, has claimed that the victim's real name is Ikpomwosa. In an interview with ITV’s London Tonight, Mrs Osiagede said she looked after the boy in Germany for a year before travelling to Britain without him in 2001. She claimed she handed the boy over to a man known as Bawa who later told her that he was dead and threatened to kill her unless she kept silent. Police have passed numerous files on the case to the Crown Prosecution Service but it has never gone to court. A second suspect, a Nigerian man, was arrested in Dublin in 2003 but was never charged. Mrs Osiagede was first questioned by police after they found clothing similar to that worn by ‘Adam’ in her Glasgow tower-block flat in 2002. The only clothing on his body was a pair of orange shorts, exclusively sold in Woolworths in Germany and Austria. Dressed in a traditional gold and green dress, Mrs Osiagede denied any involvement with the death of the young boy. Asked who killed him, she said a ‘group of people’. She added: "They used him for a ritual in the water." Claiming the boy was six years old, she said: ‘He was a lively boy. A very nice boy, he was also intelligent.’ Detailed analysis of a substance in the boy’s stomach was identified as a ‘black magic’ potion. It included tiny clay pellets containing small particles of pure gold, an indication that Adam was the victim of a Muti ritual killing in which it is believed that the body parts of children are sacred. Bodies are often disposed of in flowing water. 2009 Masego Kgomo[edit] Masego Kgomo was a 10-year-old South African girl whose body parts were removed and sold to a sangoma in Soshanguve, South Africa. The little girl's body was found in bushes near the Mabopane railway station, north-west of Pretoria. 30 year old Brian Mangwale was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.[13] Illegal organ trade murders (the 'Red trade')[edit] Main article: Illegal organ trade According to the World Health Organization (WHO), illegal organ trade occurs when organs are removed from the body for the purpose of commercial transactions.[14] The illegal organ trade is growing, and a recent report by Global Financial Integrity estimates that globally it generates profits between $0.6 billion and $1.2 billion per year In some cases, criminal organizations have engaged in kidnapping of people, especially children and teens, who are murdered and their organs harvested for profit.[1][2] In 2014 an alleged member of the Mexican Knights Templar cartel was arrested for the kidnapping and deaths of minors, after children were found wrapped in blankets and stuffed in a refrigerated container inside a van.[15][16] According to the most recent Bulletin of the World Health Organization on the state of the international organ trade,[when?] 66,000 kidney transplants, 21,000 liver transplants, and 6000 heart transplants were performed globally in 2005,[17] while another article reports that 2008 the median waiting time for the U.S. transplant list in 2008 was greater than 3 years and expected to rise, while the United Kingdom reported a lack of organs for 8000 patients, with the rate increasing at 8%.[14] It was estimated that about 10% of all transplants occur illegally, with the Internet acting as a facilitator. Transplant tourism raises concerns because it involves the transfer of healthy organs in one direction, depleting the regions where organs are bought. This transfer typically occurs from South to North, developing to developed nations, females to males, and from people of color to whites, a trend that experts say "has exacerbated old...divisions".[18] While some organs such as the kidney can be transplanted routinely and the single remaining kidney is adequate for normal human needs, other organs are less easy to source. Liver transplants in particular are prominent, but incur an excruciating recovery that deters donations. Most countries have laws which criminalize the buying and selling of organs, or the carrying out of medical procedures for the illegal organ trade, in most countries globally. Execution of prisoners of conscience in China to satisfy organ harvesting demand[edit] See also: Kilgour–Matas report and Organ transplantation in China In March 2006, three individuals alleged that thousands of Falun Gong practitioners had been killed at Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital, to supply China's organ transplant industry.[19][20][21] The third person, a doctor, said the so-called hospitals in Sujiatun are but one of 36 similar concentration camps all over China.[21] The allegations were the subject of investigative reports by Edward McMillan-Scott,[22] Vice-President of the European Parliament, and by former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas.[3] The Kilgour-Matas report[3][23][24] stated "the source of 41,500 transplants for the six year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained" and concluded that "there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners".[3] The report called attention to the extremely short wait times for organs in China—one to two weeks for a liver compared with 32.5 months in Canada—noting that this was indicative of organs being procured on demand. A significant increase in the number of annual organ transplants in China beginning in 1999, corresponded with the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong. Despite very low levels of voluntary organ donation, China performs the second-highest number of transplants per year. The report includes incriminating material from Chinese transplant center web sites advertising the immediate availability of organs from living donors, and transcripts of interviews in which hospitals told prospective transplant recipients that they could obtain Falun Gong organs.[3] An updated version of their report was published as a book in 2009.[25][26] In 2014, investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann, published his own investigation.[6] He conducted extensive interviews with former detainees of Chinese labor camps and prisons, as well as former security officers and medical professionals with knowledge of China's transplant practices.[27][28] He reported that organ harvesting from political prisoners likely began in Xinjiang province in the 1990s, and then spread nationwide. Gutmann estimates 65,000 Falun Gong prisoners were killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008.[29] The extent of evidence still led to many responses expressing "deep concerns" at the findings, and several countries took action as a result of the concerns and findings.[7] Responses were noted from the US Government, the US National Kidney Foundation ("deeply concerned"),[30] and the Queensland Ministry of Health in Australia (abolished training programs for Chinese doctors in organ transplant procedures and banned joint research with China on organ transplantation),[31] A petition signed by 140 Canadian physicians urged the Government to warn Canadian nationals that organ transplants in China were "sourced almost entirely from non-consenting people".[32][33] In 2012, State Organs: Transplant Abuse in China, edited by David Matas and Dr. Torsten Trey, was published with contributions from 12 specialists.[5] Several of the essays in the book conclude that a primary source of organs has been prisoners of conscience, specifically practitioners of Falun Gong.[4] In May 2008, two United Nations Special Rapporteurs reiterated their requests for the Chinese government to fully explain the allegation of taking vital organs from Falun Gong practitioners and the source of organs for the sudden increase in organ transplants in China since 2000.[34] In August 2009, Manfred Nowak the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture said, "The Chinese government has yet to come clean and be transparent ... It remains to be seen how it could be possible that organ transplant surgeries in Chinese hospitals have risen massively since 1999, while there are never that many voluntary donors available."[35] Murder for dissection and study[edit] Main article: Anatomy murder [icon] This section requires expansion. (August 2014) See also[edit] Persecution of people with albinism Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa Child sacrifice in Uganda References[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b http://mexico.cnn.com/nacional/2014/03/17/la-policia-detiene-a-manuel-plancarte-sobrino-de-un-lider-templario ^ Jump up to: a b http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2583135/Cartel-member-accused-kidnapping-children-harvest-organs-captured-Mexico.html ^ Jump up to: a b c d e David Kilgour, David Matas (6 July 2006, revised 31 January 2007) An Independent Investigation into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China (free in 22 languages) organharvestinvestigation.net) ^ Jump up to: a b Matthew Robertson (31 August 2012). "Book Exposes Organized Killing for Organs in China". Epoch Times. ^ Jump up to: a b David Matas, Dr. Torsten Trey (2012). "State Organs, Transplant Abuse in China". seraphimeditions.com. p. 144. ^ Jump up to: a b Ethan Gutmann (August 2014) The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem p. 368 amazon.com ^ Jump up to: a b David Kilgour International Efforts to Stop Forced Organ Harvesting From Falun Gong in China Epoch Times 9 February 2013 Jump up ^ Mary Roach (2003). Stiff. W.W. Norton. Jump up ^ http://www.davemarcus.com/content/corpse-selling-case-outrages-colombians-police-say-homeless-slain-get-bodies-med-school Jump up ^ "July 2nd Philippa Mdluli – Swaziland 2/7/1983". truecrimelibrary.com. 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2011. Jump up ^ "Special judge to oversee hanging". times.co.sz. 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2011. Jump up ^ http://articles.cnn.com/2002-04-19/world/mandela.muti_1_muti-body-parts-victims?_s=PM:WORLD CNN Jump up ^ "Life sentence for muti killer". News24. 28 November 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2014. ^ Jump up to: a b Jafar, Tazeen H. (2009). "Organ Trafficking: Global Solutions for a Global Problem". American Journal of Kidney Diseases 54 (6): 1145–1157. doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2009.08.014. Jump up ^ http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/03/mexico-cartel-member-held-organ-theft-case-201431821815141191.html Jump up ^ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/17/cartel-mexico-organ-trafficking/6548691/ Jump up ^ Shimazono, Yosuke (2007). "The State of the International Organ Trade: A Provisional Picture Based on Integration of Available Information". Bulletin of the WHO 85 (12). doi:10.1590/S0042-96862007001200017. Jump up ^ Scheper-Hughes, Nancy (2008). The Last Commodity: Post-Human Ethics, Global (In)Justice, and the Traffic in Organs. Penang: Multiversity & Citizens International. ISBN 9789833302093. Jump up ^ "Secret Chinese Concentration Camp Revealed" 10 March 2006 The Epoch Times Jump up ^ "New Witness Confirms Existence of Chinese Concentration Camp, Says Organs Removed from Live Victims" 17 March 2006 The Epoch Times ^ Jump up to: a b "Source Reveals Other Chinese Concentration Camps, Sujiatun is merely one of 36 concentration camps for Falun Gong in China" 31 March 2006 The Epoch Times Jump up ^ Edward McMillan-Scott (7 July 2006) EP Vice-President's Investigative Report on Organ Harvesting in China The Epoch Times Jump up ^ Reuters, AP (8 July 2006) "Falun Gong organ claim supported" The Age, (Australia) Jump up ^ Endemann, Kirstin (6 July 2006) CanWest News Service "Ottawa urged to stop Canadians travelling to China for transplants" Ottawa Citizen Jump up ^ David Kilgour, David Matas (2009). "Bloody Harvest, The killing of Falun Gong for their organs". seraphimeditions.com. p. 232. Jump up ^ "Chinese accused of vast trade in organs". The Washington Times. Jump up ^ Barbara Turnbull (21 October 2014) Q&A: Author and analyst Ethan Gutmann discusses China’s illegal organ trade The Toronto Star Jump up ^ 25 April 2014 The Slaughter – An Interview with Doctors Against Forced Harvesting ethan-gutmann.com Jump up ^ Ethan Gutmann (10 March 2011) "How many harvested?" revisited eastofethan.com Jump up ^ "National Kidney Foundation Statement about Alleged Human Rights Violations in Organ Donation" (pdf). faluninfo.net. 15 August 2008. Jump up ^ "Hospitals ban Chinese surgeon training". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2014. Jump up ^ "The Medical Post, Canadian MD-activist likens Chinese organ trade to the Holocaust". david-kilgour.com. 12 March 2008. Jump up ^ "Excerpt from Hansard of 13 December 2007, Canadian House of Commons". organharvestinvestigation.net. 13 December 2007. Jump up ^ Market Wired (8 May 2008) China's Organ Harvesting Questioned Again by UN Special Rapporteurs: FalunHR Reports Retrieved 26 October 2014 Jump up ^ "Organ harvesting". Chinaview.wordpress.com. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Other sources[edit] "Council to request tribal leaders to find solution to ritual murders" Daily News Online (Botswana), 11 June 2001. Retrieved 28 February 2006. "Court of Appeal orders govt to pay Sekobye for unlawful arrest" Daily News Online, 31 January 2006. Retrieved 28 February 2006. G.I. Jones (1951). Basutoland Medicine Murder: A Report on the Recent Outbreak of 'Diretlo' Murders in Basutoland. HMSO, London. J.P. Evans (1993). "Where Can We Get a Beast Without Hair?", Medicine Murder in Swaziland from 1970 to 1988. African Studies v 52(1): pp27–42, Johannesburg H.J. Deacon (1992). "The Origin of Modern Humans and the Impact of Chronometric Dating", Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, Vol. 337, No. 1280 pp. 177–183 Murray C and Sanders P (2005) Medicine Murder in Colonial Lesotho: The anatomy of a moral crisis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Sanders, T. 2001. Save Our Skins: Structural Adjustment, Morality and the Occult in Tanzania. In Magical Interpretations, Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa (eds) Moore, HL and T. Sanders. London & New York: Routledge. External links[edit] BBC Categories: CrimeHomicideMurderAfrican shamanismAfrican witchcraftReligious behaviour and experienceTraditional African medicineHealth in ChinaFalun GongOrgan trafficking Navigation menu Create accountLog inArticleTalkReadEditView history Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Wikipedia store Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact page Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Wikidata item Cite this page Print/export Create a book Download as PDF Printable version Languages Italiano Русский Edit links This page was last modified on 17 February 2015, at 17:04. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. _____________________________________ Angela Costa Named Nursing Division Director at AGH Share with a friend Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 Angela Costa, RN, has been appointed to the position of Nursing Division Director in the Department of Nursing at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH). Ms. Costa has been a member of the AGH staff for more than 25 years and has held a variety of leadership positions within the organization, including Manager of Hospital Operations, Clinical Supervisor and, most recently, Director of the Neurosurgical Service Line. In this latter capacity, she played an integral role in opening the hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Unit in 2007. Ms. Costa graduated with a Bachelors of Science Degree from Duquesne University and a Masters of Public Policy and Management Degree from Carnegie Mellon University. She is a member of the local chapter of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses and member of the South Western Pennsylvania Organization of Nursing Leaders. She was also AGH’s 2009 Cameos of Caring Award Winner for the Advanced Practice Award Focus. _____________________________________________ Highmark From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield) This article is about the health insurance company. For other uses, see Highmark (disambiguation). [hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines for companies and organizations. (August 2014) This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2014) This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (August 2014) Highmark Inc. Highmark Logo.svg Type Not-For-Profit Industry Healthcare, Insurance Founded June 22, 1977 [1] Headquarters Fifth Avenue Place Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Key people David Holmberg, President & CEO J. Robert Baum, Board of Directors Products Health Insurance Revenue Increase$14.78 billion (2011) USD Number of employees 19,500 (2012) Website www.highmark.com Highmark's headquarters at Penn Avenue and Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Highmark is a not-for-profit healthcare company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the largest health insurer in Pennsylvania, and through a purchase in 1996, the largest health insurer in West Virginia and also later Delaware. As Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, it primarily serves the 29 counties of western Pennsylvania. As Highmark Blue Shield it services 21 counties of Central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley. There is also a presence in the border areas of eastern Ohio, and all of West Virginia through its subsidiary Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia. Highmark has a stake in the largest health insurer in northeastern Pennsylvania as well, Blue Cross of North East Pennsylvania BCNEPA. It is currently[timeframe?] one of the largest not-for-profit health insurers in the United States which owns several for-profit subsidiaries. Contents [hide] 1 Company History 2 Organizational Structure 3 References 4 External links Company History[edit] Highmark was created in 1977 and in the 1990s by the consolidation of two Pennsylvania licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association — Pennsylvania Blue Shield (now Highmark Blue Shield) based in suburban Harrisburg, and Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania based in downtown Pittsburgh (now Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield). The consolidated group serves 49 of the state's 67 counties. In West Virginia, the company operates as Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia, and in Delaware, it operates as Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware. The new company based its head offices in downtown Pittsburgh and features greatly expanded services. On March 28, 2007, Highmark announced it intended to consolidate with Independence Blue Cross of Philadelphia. The combination of the 2 insurers would have created a new company with over 18,000 employees, dual-headquarters in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and an economic impact of over $4 billion throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On January 22, 2009, Highmark and Independence Blue Cross withdrew their applications to consolidate due to the unacceptability of conditions that the Pennsylvania Insurance Department was going to place upon the merger: to give up either of their well-known "Blue Cross" or "Blue Shield" trademarks. [1] In 2011 the company announced it would buy the financially troubled West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS) for about $500 million. Organizational Structure[edit] Highmark Inc. has several wholly owned for-profit subsidiaries:United Concordia Companies, Inc., a dental insurer; Davis Vision, a provider of managed care vision benefits; Visionworks of America, a vision retail provider offering frames, lens and accessories; and HM Insurance Group, a reinsurer providing stop-loss, limited benefit medical plans, worksite, life, disability, and administrative services. Highmark Health Services Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (Western PA) Highmark Blue Shield (Central PA) Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware Allegheny Health Network Allegheny General Hospital Allegheny Valley Hospital Canonsburg General Hospital Forbes Regional Hospital Jefferson Regional Medical Center Saint Vincent Hospital Western Pennsylvania Hospital Diversified Businesses United Concordia (Dental) Davis Vision (Vision) Visionworks of America (Vision) HM Insurance Group (Health-related Insurance) HM Health Solutions (IT Services) The Highmark Foundation References[edit] Jump up ^ Bill Toland (22 January 2009). "Health giants halt merger". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PG Publishing Co., Inc.). Retrieved 18 December 2014. Portal icon Pittsburgh portal External links[edit] Official website Blue Cross Blue Shield Western Pa Highmark Rates And Information

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