WVU Medicine Plans $260M Expansion For Eastern Panhandle Hospitals, Citing New Demand

As the population of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle continues to grow, a major health provider is looking to expand local access to care with a $260 million investment.

This year, WVU Medicine will begin development on its main hospital campuses in Berkeley and Jefferson counties as part of a sizable capital investment project. Both expansion projects are slated for completion in early 2028.

“Everybody’s aware that Berkeley and Jefferson counties are expanding rapidly,” said Nicole Dollison, president and CEO of Jefferson Medical Center in Ranson. “I think we are fortunate that, as the counties grow, we’re able to expand our access and services to ensure that the community can receive care where you live, and you don’t have to leave the area.”

The Eastern Panhandle is the fastest-growing region of the state. Between 2020 and 2024, the population of Berkeley County grew by more than 13,500 residents to a total of more than 136,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. During that same time period, Jefferson County’s population surpassed 61,000, an increase of roughly 35,000 people.

Berkeley Medical Center

More than $200 million of the funding will go toward Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, supporting things like inpatient bed capacity expansions.

There are currently 190 inpatient beds there, some in semi-private rooms. By 2028, WVU Medicine intends to house 316 inpatient beds at the hospital, all of them entirely private.

Alongside the capacity increase, WVU Medicine aims to replace Berkeley Medical’s current linear particle accelerator, a machine that eliminates cancer cells; emergency department renovations; up to 450 new parking spots; and a new parking bridge and shuttle system.

WVU Medicine intends to break ground on the parking project this August, and the inpatient service expansions this November.

Jefferson Medical Center

Roughly $60 million of the capital investment will go toward Jefferson Medical Center. Most notably, WVU Medicine plans to build a three-story ambulatory center there, which will house medical offices, support services, imaging and lab work and additional space for future growth.

WVU Medicine also plans to establish a new infusion and cancer treatment facility inside Jefferson Medical, helmed by the WVU Cancer Institute. Like Berkeley Medical, Jefferson Medical is also slated for general infrastructure and parking upgrades.

These efforts aim to consolidate and centralize services at Jefferson Medical, Dollison said.

“We can provide infusion. We can provide radiation oncology, the LINAC (linear particle accelerator), things like that,” she said. “You don’t have to travel so far, or even out of West Virginia.”

WVU Medicine hopes to begin construction on the infusion site this summer, and open it in early 2026. They hope to begin construction on the new ambulatory medical office in 2026, and open it in early 2028.

The campus expansion replaces a new medical office center project in the city of Charles Town, which WVU Medicine had announced in 2023.

Looking ahead

WVU Medicine anticipates the two-county expansion project will create 550 new jobs within the next five years. Dollison said she hopes it can also expand local opportunities for care and treatment.

“The greater care that you have for the community, … [the more you can] make sure, if they need an MRI, they don’t have to wait for weeks or travel somewhere else,” Dollison said.

Dollison added that services not offered at one WVU Medicine facility can be offered at another with relative ease, because the facilities share medical records.

“We really are trying to cover the entire area — not only increase access at the hospital locations, but making sure that we have access in the communities,” Dollison said. “We’re really trying to make it all-encompassing health care so people can stay within the same system regardless of what their medical needs may be.”