WVU Medicine to invest nearly $400 million in West Virginia’s healthcare infrastructure

Projects are set for Morgantown, Fairmont, the Elkins corridor, Princeton and Bluefield. The projects are all subject to regulatory approvals.

“Separately, these are all transformative projects; collectively, they represent a giant leap as we continue to build a best-in-class health system for the people of West Virginia and the broader region,” said Albert L. Wright Jr., president and CEO of the WVU Health System.

“Our true north remains our commitment to our patients and our ability to serve them in a caring and healing environment,” he said. “And by expanding the breadth and depth of our programs and infrastructure, we ensure the health system is well-positioned long-term to meet the needs of our patients.”

Wright said the four projects will have significant impact on the communities served, providing high-quality care closer to where patients live.

As a nonprofit, WVU Medicine believes it must invest in its communities and people, Wright said.

“Our mission is to improve the healthcare of West Virginians,” Wright said. “This is a mix of upgrades to existing facilities, as well as new facilities, that stretch from Morgantown to Fairmont to Elkins, Princeton and down to Bluefield.”

The projects include:

• Morgantown — $233,500,000 for a new, multi-center outpatient facility with surgical suites for the WVU Eye Institute. The new structure will be on the site of the former Fieldcrest Hall at the intersection of Van Voorhis Road and Elmer Prince Drive. The project also includes a multi-level parking garage with over 1,100 spaces.

• Fairmont — $44,000,000 to build and renovate new operating rooms at WVU Medicine Fairmont Medical Center, as well as a new pharmacy, cafeteria, dialysis unit, infusion center and other facility upgrades.

• Elkins corridor — $37,300,000 to build a 38,000-square-foot, multi-specialty ambulatory facility linked to WVU Medicine United Hospital Center. A “hospital without beds,” the facility is expected to offer walk-in family medicine and urgent care; cardiology; orthopaedics; oncology and infusion services; ear, nose and throat; urology; infectious diseases; pain management; pulmonology; rheumatology; and lab and imaging (mobile CT and MRI), among other services.

• Princeton and Bluefield — $64,500,000 to build a comprehensive cancer center on the campus of WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital and invest in Bluefield by relocating the full-service emergency department and imaging and lab services to the Bluefield Pavilion site campus and adding 10 observation beds, MRI and ultrasound.

Dr. David Hess, CEO and president of WVU Medicine United Hospital Center, told WV News that the UHC-Elkins partnership will bring high-quality care closer to home for Randolph County residents.

“The hospital-without-beds concept was something our health systems CEO (Albert Wright) challenged our team to develop,” Hess said. “That was a brainchild of his. He wanted us to really be able to offer the best product in that community in the most full-service product. His vision was to offer as many services as you possibly can to be there for the community just shy of being a full-scale hospital and having them stay overnight.”

Thursday’s announcement comes two weeks after the WVU Health System announced that it is in the early stages of updating its master campus plan in Morgantown, with the goal of building a multi-story cancer hospital as part of the J.W. Ruby Medical Complex.

The Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust made a $50 million gift as a catalyst for that project, which is also subject to certain board and regulatory approvals.

The WVU Health System has many other new construction and expansion projects underway in the state, including ones in Charleston, Ripley, Morgantown, Martinsburg, Glen Dale and Ranson. In 2022, the system announced that it was investing $177 million in its infrastructure.