PCH, WVU Health System sign 'definitive agreement'

Jul. 28—Princeton Community Hospital (PCH) will soon officially be fully integrated into the WVU Health System.

A "definitive agreement" was signed Wednesday at the PCH Board of Directors meeting by the City of Princeton, the PCH Board and the WVU Health System.

The hospital has been operating under a management agreement and clinical affiliation with the health system since December 2020, and in October 2021, a letter of intent was signed by all parties for the WVU Health System to become the sole member of PCH.

"Regulatory steps were taken when the certificate of need was approved earlier this year. The last step in the process of full affiliation is the definitive agreement," Karen Bowling, PCH President and CEO of PCH, said in an announcement after the signing. "That enables Princeton Community Hospital to become a full member of the WVU Health System. The agreement outlines the responsibilities of the System, including the fact that the hospital will remain in Princeton and a local board of directors will remain in place to advise as we move forward to develop the strategies to enhance healthcare services in the region."

Bowling said there are many advantages to being a full member of the WVU Health System.

"WVU Medicine will bring the strength, stability and resources necessary to move healthcare forward in southern West Virginia in ways that would not have been possible otherwise," she said. "We are already seeing significant improvements being made at PCH with the addition of a highly advanced cardiac cath lab with a fully interventional cardiology program, set to open this fall; new telemedicine services that include telestroke, telenephrology, and pediatric telemedicine; installation of the leading electronic medical record software; and the connection to an academic medical center that facilitates the recruitment of new physicians to the area."

"It is important for us to bring Princeton Community Hospital into the WVU Medicine family, so that the folks in the southernmost regions of West Virginia don't have to cross state lines to find high quality care," said President and CEO of the WVU Health System Albert L. Wright, Jr., who also attended Wednesday's meeting. "As the academic medical center of the state's land-grant university, we are responsible for caring for all West Virginians, and this will help us better serve the people in southern West Virginia."

The full integration will culminate a process that started after PCH purchased the former Bluefield Regional Medical Center in 2019, closing in-patient services at the hospital in 2020 after the pandemic hit. The medical center had already been struggling financially but after the purchase retained its emergency room services, the PCH Bluefield Emergency Department.

The facility was eventually sold to Bluefield State University, which now has its health sciences program there as well as a dormitory using former patient rooms and the cafeteria remains open.

"As our hospital and all of our campuses grow, we grow with WVU Medicine, " Bowling recently told members of the Bluefield City Board.

Bowling said WVU Medicine is "very progressive across the state" in terms of things they are doing.

A huge advantage, she said, is that all of the "latest and greatest technology " and other resources the statewide system has are, or will be, available for people in this region.

The West Virginia University Health System is West Virginia's largest health system and the state's largest employer. With more than 2,000 licensed beds and 2,000 active medical staff, the Health System includes 17 hospitals, including a 700-bed academic medical center in Morgantown, West Virginia; eight community hospitals; and eight critical access hospitals. The Health System also manages four hospitals and has a new 150-bed Children's Hospital on its main medical campus.

That means access to the best technology and experts in all medical areas, providing care that was not available before without travel, she added.

"Our goal is to keep people close to home," Bowling said. "We try to bring resources to our local community so that through telemedicine or other avenues we are able to meet the needs of people close to home. That is very important to us."

When people do need to go to leave the area for specialized treatment they can go to Morgantown rather than out of state, she said, with access to a new children's hospital opening soon as well as critical care and transplants.

On Wednesday, Wright and board members also reviewed a 10-year master facility plan that mapped out the future for the hospital and opportunities to expand services in the community.

PCH serves a 10-county region in southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.

The hospital offers advanced medical technologies and procedures, from state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging to minimally invasive surgery. In addition, PCH provides behavioral health services at The Behavioral Health Pavilion of the Virginias, a 64-bed psychiatric hospital in Bluefield, as well as operates PCH Bluefield, the full-service emergency department.

Bowling said at the City Board meeting a tentative full transition date of Jan. 1, 2023, has been set to bring PCH officially into the WVU Medicine system.

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com