In 2011 the company announced it would buy the financially troubled West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS) for about $500 million, expanding from insurance into owning hospitals. This began a period of conflict between Highmark and UPMC, which had expanded from hospitals into insurance, and caused difficulties for patients to access care at the conflicting institutions. The conflict included a lawsuit by Highmark against UPMC alleging that UPMC over-billed it by $300 million for cancer drugs, arbitrators ordered UPMC to pay $188 million.