Advancements in West Virginia health care: Hospitals leverage technology for improved patient access

WVU Medicine has seen success in expanding care to allow residents to access these technological advancements and help patients keep track of medical records, said Albert Wright Jr., president and CEO of the WVU Health System.

“Everything about a patient — their prescriptions, labs, images, physician progress notes — follows them wherever they go so that we’ve got complete and transparent information to make decisions,” he said. “It allows us to be efficient in our care and make sure we aren’t making any mistakes during transition of care. A lot of times that’s where bad things can happen.”

Expanding care is also a priority, said David Hess, president and CEO of WVU Medicine United Hospital Center in Bridgeport.

“In my mind, some of the biggest accomplishments we’ve been able to do over these last few years are building out this medical center,” he said.

“It’s really building out the health system we have in order to really stretch almost throughout the entire state. ... We’re going to make sure that everybody in every rural part of the state gets this high level health care everyone deserves,” Hess said.

Implementing new technologies has also attracted physicians from out of state, said Doug Harrison, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale and Wetzel County Hospital in New Martinsville.

“It’s a very mission-driven model of care,” he said. “The recruitment is going very well, and we’re at the point where we’re very selective on who we take so we can get these high-quality doctors.”

The implementation of virtual programs like telehealth and telemedicine has also led to more options for patients, said Shannon Browning, chief medical officer with Marshall Health.

“We’ve recently added a telemedicine urgent care,” she said. “If someone has a cold but can’t get out because roads are snowy, they can do the equivalent of going to an urgent care facility and schedule a same-day appointment.”

Technology to help medical professionals and their patients has advanced substantially in recent years, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

“That’s a big barrier that’s been lifted because of technology,” Browning said. “Telehealth is not a new concept. We’ve talked about it and how to do it correctly. Then the pandemic hit, and that put a rush on having to advance how we approach this technology.

“Lots of changes were made. Those changes really allowed us to advance. ... We’re able to send a text to a patient to initiate the visit, and they can use whatever device they have to do an audio and visual appointment. Especially in a rural state like West Virginia, that can make a big impact.”

Over the past 10 years, Mon Health has continued to work on making health care accessible for as many people as possible, said David Goldberg, president and CEO of Mon Health System and Davis Health System-Vandalia Health Northern Region and executive vice president of Vandalia Health.

“What we’re seeing over the last decade or so is that we need to continue to be laser-focused on community need,” he said. “Hospitals should be for higher acuity care, and what you’ve seen in West Virginia is a lot of moves to make access easier.”

This mindset has prompted Mon Health to expand its locations and offerings, Goldberg said.

“We’ve put offices and clinics in more communities so we can get health care closer to people,” he said. “What we’re seeing is that the transformation of technology, advances in medicine and advancements in procedures have reduced burdens for people.”

Mon Health also has taken advantage of emerging technologies, Goldberg said.

“We have robots today,” he said. “We have advanced technologies that have made hospital stays shorter and healing opportunities for the patients faster. That’s exciting, and we’re doing that here in West Virginia.”

Many of these advances have made getting test results quicker and easier than ever, Goldberg said.

“It’s within days, not weeks, to get your results back,” he said. “Technology is faster. ... You know sometimes before your doctor does what your results are. You still need to have conversations with your medical provider, but it’s more timely and in your hands to own your health care.”

Moving forward, hospitals and other health care providers plan to continue finding new and creative ways to implement technological advancements to increase the quality of care provided to patients.

“Technology is changing on a monthly basis,” Browning said. “So we need to think about how we appropriately incorporate that to improve access for patients, communication with patients and patient satisfaction.”

“We’ve grown a lot over the last few years, and now we’re focusing on optimization,” Hess said. “For us, a major focus is building up our smaller hospitals.”

“We’re on a journey to become an NCI (National Cancer Institute) designated health system,” Wright said. “A big part of why we want to do this is we want to have the most up-to-date and cutting-edge treatments available to all of our citizens.”

“We continue to look at technologies,” Goldberg said. “Our doctors are helping us make sure we are staying top of mind, patient-centered and high-quality focused.”