[9] It is considered a leading American health care provider, as its flagship facilities have ranked in U.S. News & World Report "Honor Roll" of the approximately 15 to 20 best hospitals in America for over 15 years.

[12] In 1958, the "University of Pittsburgh Health Center" was noted to comprise (1) Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, and the Graduate School of Public Health; (2) Presbyterian, Woman's, Children's, Eye and Ear, and Magee Hospitals; and (3) Falk Clinic, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Child Guidance Center, Salk Hall, and Central Blood Bank.

The consolidated group, re-termed the Medical and Health Care Division (MHCD) and led by Detre, became closely linked administratively, although Presbyterian University Hospital remained a separate entity.

[25] This created a collaborative and coordinated decision-making model in which UPMC oversees all clinical activity, while the University of Pittsburgh remains the guardian of all academic priorities, particularly faculty-based research.

[8][38] Among the more renowned individuals who have worked with the University of Pittsburgh's medical center through its history are Jonas Salk who developed the polio vaccine while at the University of Pittsburgh, pediatric psychoanalyst Benjamin Spock, Peter Safar who pioneered CPR and the world's first intensive care training program at the medical center, and surgeon Thomas Starzl who perfected organ transplantation there.

Other notable doctors include pathologist Maud Menten who is famous for her contributions to enzyme kinetics, leading orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine expert Freddie Fu,[39] pioneering immunologist Niels Kaj Jerne, noted forensic pathologist and Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht, Vitamin C's discoverer Charles Glen King, pediatrician Jack Paradise, leading head and neck cancer surgeon and otolaryngologist Eugene Nicholas Myers, laparoscopic liver resection pioneer David Geller, breast cancer treatment pioneer Bernard Fisher, and virologists Patrick Moore and Yuan Chang, who co-discovered Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

UPMC has provided care to many celebrities, including Pennsylvania two-term governor and 1992 Presidential candidate Robert P. Casey for cancer, 10,000 Maniacs guitarist and founder Robert Buck for liver disease,[40] sportscaster Bob Prince,[41] publisher William Block,[42] MCI CEO William G. McGowan,[43] transplant recipient Stormie Jones and Pittsburgh mayors Bob O'Connor for lymphoma and Richard Caliguiri for amyloidosis.

[47] In 2017, Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimović traveled to a UPMC facility to have surgery to repair his torn anterior cruciate ligament.

[25] UPMC's 24-member Board of Directors equally splits representation between three groups: the University of Pittsburgh, the community at-large, and individuals historically involved in the governance of its system's hospitals.

Its stated goal is "to advance UPMC's mission of positively transforming the way health care is provided in the U.S. and abroad, while revitalizing the economy of western Pennsylvania.

UPMC Ear & Eye Institute is one of a few centers in the nation dedicated entirely to the management of problems related to otolaryngology and ophthalmology.

The outpatient clinic includes orthopedic, primary care, physical therapy, concussion, imaging, and sports performance services.

[92] UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh boasts 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m2) and has 415 beds, with a 41-bed emergency department and a 36-bed pediatric intensive care unit.

It currently is equipped with 360 beds, an emergency room and ambulatory facilities on four floors which allows it to offer all possible services under one roof including family medicine physicians, gastroenterologists, dermatologists, rheumatologists, pulmonary specialists, orthopedists, urologists and neurologists.

It also operates a satellite hospital in the city's northern suburbs as part as the UPMC Passavant facility as well as 9 metro area imaging clinics.

The expansion added six floors, increased the number of beds from 318 to 360 (including 14 additional intensive care rooms), and expanded the surgical and ambulatory facilities.

With nearly 400 inpatient psychiatric beds and more than 50 ambulatory programs, it is one of the largest behavioral health care providers affiliated with an academic medical center in the country.

30-year-old John Shick, a Carleton College alumnus and former Duquesne University biology graduate student, entered the building at 1:42 p.m. with two semiautomatic handguns and shot six people in the first-floor lobby.

Handwritten messages complaining about his medical treatment and the evils of "corporate America," floor plans and blueprints of Thomas Detre Hall, and supplies for making Molotov cocktails were found in his apartment after the shooting.

The hospital houses obstetrics, neonatology, and gynecology specialities of UPMC Hamot and includes a Level III neonatal intensive care unit.

In 1964, Passavant moved from the City of Pittsburgh to its location in McCandless to serve the communities of northern Allegheny and southern Butler counties.

[124][125] UPMC is also a partner with the University of Pittsburgh and the governments of Italy and the region of Sicily in Fondazione Ri.Med, which is building a €210 million Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Center in Carini near Palermo.

[126] In June 2019, UPMC signed a deal with the Wanda Group to develop and operate five private hospitals in major Chinese cities.

ISMETT is a joint public-private partnership between the Region of Sicily, through Civico and Cervello hospitals in Palermo, and UPMC, which manages and operates the facility.

Over the last decade, it has often found itself the target of pointed criticisms from SEIU Healthcare,[152] which has tried unsuccessfully to organize bargaining units among UPMC's service employees and other front-line workers.

The incident led UPMC to voluntarily shut down its kidney transplant program for two months, and resulted in the suspension of a nurse and demotion of a surgeon.

[169] These actions stem from a long-standing dispute between Highmark Health and UPMC, the largest two health-care providers in Western PA.

[171] With the consent decree expiring in 2019, the Pennsylvania Attorney General attempted to negotiate continued access to care with both companies.

[174] In 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a lawsuit against UPMC, University of Pittsburgh Physicians, and one of UPMC's top surgeons, alleging the surgeon was "regularly scheduling multiple complex surgeries at the same time, forcing him to move between operating rooms and sometimes hospitals, while requiring patients to stay under additional hours of anesthesia.

"[175] The television medical dramas Heartland (2007) and Three Rivers (2009) were largely based on UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh's Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.