BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – The West Virginia Health Care Authority has approved the Certificate of Need submitted by Mon Health System, part of Vandalia Health, for a small format hospital in Harrison County.
Mon Health System President and CEO David Goldberg said the facility will cost about $23 million and is expected to open in about two years.
“This will be a little different because we have to build the building from the ground up,” Goldberg said. “At White Hall, we were able to buy four walls of an old shop and build into it, so it cut cost and time, but this one is getting off the ground.”
The facility will be built in the mixed-use community of Charles Pointe, near I-79. Charles Pointe is 1,700 acres with more than 2,000 residential units, more than 350,000 square feet of commercial space and a variety of civic or multi-use spaces managed by Genesis Partners.
“I didn’t know how many houses were planned until the last few months,” Goldberg said. “The expansion at the airport, the new sports center in Clarksburg — it makes sense to be right there.”
Development, population and future growth are all reasons to build in the Charles Point area. But Goldberg said the small-format concept will be a good fit for the area and offer more options.
“When you look at a small-format hospital, it fills the gaps where you have higher-end services,” Goldberg said. “So you’re not going to replicate the cost of an additional cath lab, additional operating rooms that are already in these full-service hospitals.”
The first small format hospital in the Mon Health System was built in White Hall, the Mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital, at a cost of about $20 million and opened last December. The 20,000 square foot facility has 24/7 urgent care, ten inpatient beds and offers radiology, laboratory testing, cardiac monitoring and a pharmacy.
“We’ve had nearly 6,000 emergency room visits already coming from White Hall,” Goldberg said. “In our ten beds, we’ve had six people admitted and they’re loving the experience.”
Recently, Mon Health Systems and CAMC merged to form Vandalia Health, but Goldberg said this facility will feature the familiar “Mon” brand.
“Over time we will start incorporating the Vandalia Health logo into what we do, but our market knows Mon and it will always be Mon,” Goldberg said. “But we’re part of a much bigger health system now, and it’s important to share the breadth and depth of that.”
