BLUEFIELD HOSPITAL JOINS COLLAPSE OF WV MEDICAL FACILITIES

(05/30/2020)

Another WV hospital appears to be closing in a volatile health care market that is faced with collapsing and tangled funding from government and private insurers. Bluefield Regional Medical Center will be reduced to an emergency room with lab services following a vote by the Princeton Community Hospital Board of Directors to permanently close inpatient and ancillary services at BRMC impacting 340 jobs. The Princeton hospital purchased the Bluefield facility last June. It said Friday the unstable health care environment forced the move which will happen by the end of July. “I am deeply saddened by this announcement and I regret that this is the outcome of the acquisition,” Princeton Community Hospital Board of Directors President Rusty Sarver said in a statement. He said Bluefield Regional has served the community well and has dedicated workers. “Regrettably, with the volatility of today’s health care environment, our decreasing population, and reductions in federal funding and reimbursements from government and commercial insurers, there are no other viable options,” Sarver said. Rural hospitals in West Virginia have taken a hit in recent months, most citing the reimbursement issue as one of the reasons for closure. Both Fairmont Regional Hospital and Williamson Memorial Hospital have closed this year, with the collapse of Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling with the loss of over 1000 jobs.

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