MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — U.S. News & World Report has ranked the J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital as the best in the state for the 2025-26 year.
WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright has also been awarded a six-year contract extension as the system celebrates several other accomplishments.
Wright said the view from Mountaineer Field has been transformed from a teaching hospital to a landscape offering a variety of top-quality care options.
“Heart and vascular, the Rockefeller Neurosciences, and cancer are doing big things as we pursue the National Cancer Institute designation; our critical care trauma institute; we’re rebuilding the WVU Eye Institute, and we just built that beautiful WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital,” Wright said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.” “This is really a world-class medical center.”
The WVU Medicine system now includes 26 properties that stretch from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland to all corners of West Virginia. Many of the centers bring options that prevent residents from traveling for hours to get the care they need.
“We’re really creating a population health footprint all connected on our interoperable electronic medical records system,” Wright said. “And our mission is to improve the health trajectory of West Virginia.”
The edition of the Peak Health Insurance system based in Morgantown also presents opportunities to provide access to care but also control costs. The nonprofit is owned by WVU Health System, Marshall Health Network, and Valley Health. This is an incentive-based system that enhances the process between the provider and the payer.
“All of a sudden you’re able to make investments to prevent that pre-diabetic patient from being diabetic, or you’re able to make modifications in the home or provide transportation so we’re sure that patient is getting care,” Wright said.
Through incentives and preventative care Wright said there are opportunities to analyze and possibly cut costs. As costs continue to rise and increased involvement from the government becomes apparent, it will be the task of the industry to gain control over costs.
“We have to be creative to find ways to control health care costs,” Wright said. “Otherwise, somebody is going to do that for you, and it’s going to be in the form of the federal government cutting programs, and I would much rather be part of the solution.”
The Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) is on the radar for WVU Medicine, according to Wright. Over the last five years exploding costs have resulted in increases that have been offset by pay raises for state employees, but not in all cases. Rates just went up for state employees this year to cover a $113 million shortfall in the plan.
“We want to be part of that solution, so I think the devil is in the details, and nothing is imminent; there are only conversations at this point,” Wright said. “But, I think it is reasonable for us to think about how we can be part of the solution.”