BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — WVU Medicine United Hospital Center has announced plans for a $48 million state-of-the-art outpatient surgery center expansion project.
President and CEO Dr. David Hess said the facility is designed to provide the best patient experience while providing a superior work environment.
“You can drop off a loved one who’s getting a procedure or surgery done, and once the outpatient procedure is done, you can pick them up at a very private exit at the back of the building and be on your way,” Hess said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
Hess said UHC is becoming a regional hub for medical procedures in the central part of the state. Because of that wide footprint, an expansion was needed to manage the increase in demand for services.
“We have a backlog in many specialties to get in for surgery, and we don’t find that acceptable,” Hess said. “When patients are psychologically ready for surgery, we feel it’s best to get them in as soon as possible—we don’t want anybody to wait.”
The new facility will first be dedicated to orthopedic procedures, and that will expand to ear, nose, and throat procedures in the near future. The completed center will lead to orthopedic and spine office expansion and a possible connector to the main hospital.
“Primarily that’s where the most need is,” Hess said. “To help get better access and operating room time for our surgeons in orthopedics.”
Once the facility is opened in the first quarter of 2027, the main operating rooms in the hospital will be available for major procedures. That will allow them to expand care into other areas like lung treatments.
“That creates open access for the bigger cases to be done within our hospital operating rooms,” Hess said. “So, we’re doing a lot of lung surgery here—we recruited an exceptional lung surgeon here a couple of years ago.”
The investment is for patient care, but the project will create a place talented doctors want to work. Hess said the most skilled doctors in the market want to work with technology in state-of-the-art facilities.
“We want to invest in our physicians because we know we’re nothing without our physician friends,” Hess said. “So, we want to make sure that sends a message to physicians that we’re going to continue to invest in them and the facilities they need to do the best they can for their patients.”