It's easy now, 10 years later, to downplay the concern some of Erie's political and community leaders had about Hamot Medical Center joining UPMC. Barry Grossman, then Erie County Executive, said his greatest fear was that Hamot would downsize and possibly close as patients were shipped to Pittsburgh for treatment. Grossman, who died in May 2020, lived to see those fears proved false. Instead of downsizing or closing, Hamot has expanded its share of northwestern Pennsylvania's health-care market over the past decade. UPMC President David Gibbons said Hamot's share of the county's patient revenue has risen from 41% in 2010 to 54.6% in 2020. "Our daily census when we joined UPMC was 235 patients," Gibbons said. "In 2020 – if you remove the months of March, April and May because of the COVID-19 pandemic – we averaged 334 patients. That is significant."