Published: December 24, 2008 01:42 am      

WVUH gets state OK for project

To upgrade its IT department

FAIRMONT — West Virginia University Hospitals has state approval to spend $18 million on new computer servers and a new building to house them.

While the slowing economy may delay construction of the building by several months, WVUH will continue to introduce its electronic medical records system, said Richard A. King.

Earlier this year, the hospital’s financial billing, patient registration and emergency departments went to a paperless records system, said King.

Next month, the information technology department will start the electronic records program in two patient clinics at WVUH, King said.

“We already have the computer equipment,” but the department is running out of space in its current building or “data center,” he said. The IT department has outgrown its nearly two-decade old building, King said.

He directs the department for WVUH and University Health Associates, the group of doctors who work and teach at the medical center and its schools of medicine and dentistry. The information technology department also supports other hospitals and clinics in the West Virginia United Health System (WVUHS).

WVUHS is the parent of WVUH, United Health Center in Clarksburg and WVUH-East (Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Ranson and City Hospital in Martinsburg).

King said the $18 million for new computer servers and a new building is part of a $90 million program to bring online all of the hospitals and doctors’ clinics in the WVUHS system.

The state Health Care Authority approved the new computer equipment and new building on Dec. 12, granting WVUH a certificate of need for the project.

“Obviously, with the downturn in the economy, and the capital requirements necessary, we’re reviewing” the plan with an eye on seeking more savings and efficiencies, King said. WVUH plans to finance the improvements out of its cash reserves.

The new building will “pretty much double our ‘raised floor section’ for computer servers from about 3,000 square feet to between 5,000 and 6,000 square feet.”

The proposed budget calls for spending about $7.75 million on new computer equipment and services and $6.45 million to construct the new building, according to the certificate-of-need order. Architectural and engineering services will cost about $2.25 million, with another $550,000 slated for site development costs. A fiber-optic line will run from the new center to the hospital at an estimated cost of $350,000.

Other medical centers using the “Epic” computer program and its applications for electronic record keeping include the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, The Ohio State University medical center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Kansas.

E-mail Bill Byrd at bbyrd@timeswv.com.