Prior to the merger, the Medical College of Pennsylvania had been the first medical school to be purchased by a hospital (Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital). The new university and other hospitals all were units of the Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation (AHERF).
Allegheny University of the Health Sciences (1994–1998) was a medical school in Philadelphia that was formed in 1994 through a merger of the Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP) and Hahnemann University. As part of MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine, the largest private medical school in the United States, Allegheny University was under the new University of the Health Sciences, which also included schools for allied medical disciplines.