Tag: Hospitals

Officials Concerned After Staff Reductions, Closures At State Hospitals

Hospital closures and workforce reduction are taking place all across the state during a time when experts say West Virginians need healthcare the most.

This week West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced a workforce reduction at Wheeling Hospital due to declining revenues related to the pandemic and a pending settlement. Wheeling Hospital’s CEO Douglass Harrison said he hopes to cut 75 to 80 jobs through voluntary retirement.

Healthcare cuts are a trend throughout the Mountain State and on July 30, three West Virginia hospitals will close this year. Fairmont Regional Medical Center in Marion County, Williamson Memorial Hospital in Mingo County and next week, Bluefield Regional Medical Center in Mercer County.

Debrin Jenkins, executive director for the West Virginia Rural Health Association, said cutting healthcare in West Virginia will impact residents who make up the third- oldest population in the country, a vulnerable age group for COVID-19.

COVID-19 has surged in rural parts of the state, which have lost healthcare facilities.

“I think it’s redline dangerous, like I said I think it will be a huge increase in death,” Jenkins said.

An aging population of both patients and healthcare providers along with a lack of private insurance are adding pressure to rural hospitals, Jenkins said. 

Wheeling Hospital officials said layoffs could happen if not enough employees voluntarily accept the severance package. 

Some Hospitals In W.Va. Will Remain Under A ‘No Visitor’ Policy As State Continues To Reopen

Updated on June 19, 2020 at 5:30 p.m.

As West Virginia continues to ease coronavirus-related restrictions this week under Gov. Jim Justice’s safer-at-home order, including nursing home visitations, some hospitals in the state are choosing to keep their doors shut to most visitors.

This week, WVU Medicine announced it would begin easing visitation restrictions at their hospitals statewide ⁠— except WVU Medicine East in the Eastern Panhandle. 

 

A zero visitation policy remains in effect at Berkeley Medical Center and Jefferson Medical Center, with exceptions for end-of-life care, pediatrics, the neonatal intensive care unit, and obstetrics patients. To enter the hospital, everyone is required to wear a mask at all times. 

 

The two medical centers are the only hospitals to serve Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, with the exception of the Martinsburg VA Medical Center.

 

WVU Medicine said in a news release the decision to keep the no visitor policy in place in the Eastern Panhandle was because the region continues to see an increase in coronavirus cases. 

 

Berkeley County has seen the highest number of new positive cases in the state for weeks. 

 

Charleston Area Medical Center Health System has had a no visitor policy in place since March, but that changed on Jun. 15, 2020 when the health system began implementing a phased reopening for visitations. The health system will enter phase II of its reopening on Monday.

 

Mon Health System, however, began easing its visitation restrictions on June 9, requiring all visitors to wear masks and to be screened at the entrance. To date, visitors under 18 are still prohibited, and visitors will be asked to use hand sanitizer before and after visiting a patient’s room or the facility.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from Marshall Health and Charleston Area Medical Center.

West Virginia's First 'Surge' Hospital Amid Virus Outbreak

A Charleston hospital has become West Virginia’s first COVID-19 surge hospital ahead of the state’s projected peak of coronavirus cases.

Saint Francis Hospital was ready to receive virus patients as of Friday, The Charleston Gazette Mail reported.

“Hopefully, we’ll never have to use it,” said Brian Lilly, chief quality officer for Thomas Health, the organization that operates Saint Francis and Thomas Memorial Hospital. “But if we do, we have the capability here now to handle whatever may come up.”

Saint Francis has devoted two floors to serve coronavirus patients, as well as add beds and equipment, if West Virginia’s case load is higher than anticipated, Lilly said.

The hospital will treat patients who were diagnosed at medical facilities across the state and who are in need of active short-term care or rehabilitation services. The patients will be referred to the Charleston surge hospital by state public health officials.

West Virginia had seen more than 570 confirmed cases and five deaths as of Saturday.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks, and the overwhelming majority of people recover. But people with severe cases can need respirators to survive, and with infections spreading exponentially, many hospitals are bracing for coming waves of patients.

Fairmont Hospital Closing In 'Days,' Owner Says In Letter

The Fairmont Regional Medical Center is shutting down ahead of schedule and will cease operations over the next several days, the hospital’s owner said in a letter Monday.

Alecto Executive Vice President Michael J. Sarrao wrote that the hospital will complete its winding down of services and will stop admitting patients over “the next several days.” Hospital officials said on Feb. 18 that the facility would close within 60 days.

The letter comes after last week’s announcement that West Virginia University Medicine would take over portions of the facility while constructing a new hospital in the area. Gov. Jim Justice and Albert L. Wright Jr., CEO and president of the WVU Health System, said Fairmont Regional Medical Center would be closed for around a month to allow for administrative turnover at the facility.

Sarrao wrote that the decision to shutter in the coming days was “based on Governor Justice’s and WVU Medicine’s announcement.”

“In other words, the plan announced by Governor Justice and WVU Medicine on Friday specifically calls for FRMC and its emergency room to be closed for a period of time before WVU Medicine commences operations at the FRMC location,” he wrote.

Wright last week said he anticipated that the Fairmont Regional Medical Center would be closed from the end of March to around early-to-mid May while preparations are made for WVU Medicine to operate there. He said he planned to have resources to transport patients to different facilities while the Fairmont hospital is temporarily closed, acknowledging potential problems that could emerge as the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.

“We might have a bumpy couple months here but long term we’re going to get it right,” he said last week.

The new WVU Medicine hospital will be about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away from the shuttering Fairmont Regional Medical Center and is expected to have 100 beds and about 500 employees, Justice said. It is expected to be open within 18 to 24 months.

The California-based Alecto has drawn severe local criticism over its decision last month to close the hospital. Hospital officials said they could not find a buyer for the facility.

State Del. Michael Angelucci, who operates an ambulance service in Fairmont, shared Sarrao’s letter with The Associated Press.

The announcement followed several other hospital closures or health care cutbacks in the region.

Pleasant Valley Hospital in Point Pleasant recently announced it was cutting 53 full-time jobs and ending obstetrics services. Hospitals in Bluefield and Richwood have closed. Williamson Memorial Hospital filed for bankruptcy in October, and a nonprofit system that operates hospitals in Charleston and South Charleston announced last month that it planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but would remain open.

Roane General Hospital Expanding To Survive

Roane General Hospital is spending about $22 million to renovate its facilities in Spencer, West Virginia. A loan of $26 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will cover most of the expansion. 

There will be a new medical office building, offering more preventative wellness care for the community, including a gym and fitness center, free educational classes, health screenings and support groups. 

People of Roane County have lower than average health outcomes, quality of life and longevity, compared with other counties across West Virginia, and the country, according to a report last year by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And at a time when many rural hospitals across the country are closing, or consolidating, CEO Doug Bentz says he thinks Roane General Hospital will be able to stay financially viable by offering more specialty outpatient care, like chemotherapy. Currently, patients in Wirt and Roane Counties have to travel more than an hour to Parkersburg or Charleston to receive this type of care.  

“But that’s something that is very, very taxing to a community member that has to drive three-five days a week and sit in a chair and receive chemo for four hours, and then drive back. What a burden that is,” Bentz said.

Roane General Hospital is the county’s largest private employer and has more than 300 employers. That number is expected to grow with the expansion, which is scheduled to be completed by May 2021. 

West Virginia Hospital Files For Bankruptcy Protection

A West Virginia hospital has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Williamson Memorial Hospital made the Chapter 11 filing Monday in federal bankruptcy court.

Williamson-based Mingo Health Partners LLC bought the 76-bed hospital from Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Healthcare Systems in 2018.

The filing lists at least 50 creditors, including $651,000 owed to CHS and $486,000 to Huntington-based Ohio Valley Physicians, an emergency department staffing company based in Huntington.

The filing lists the hospital’s assets and liabilities both at between $1 million and $10 million.

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