Morgantown-based West Virginia University Medicine plans to build a 100-bed hospital in Fairmont, W.Va., to replace a facility that will be closing, according to WVNews.
The new WVU hospital, expected to open in 18 to 24 months, will be about 2 miles away from the closing Fairmont Regional Medical Center.
"You can't stand to not have a community full-service hospital right here in Marion County," West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said while announcing the project.
Irving, Calif.-based Alecto Healthcare, which owns Fairmont Regional, said in late February that it would close the West Virginia hospital within 60 days because it was unable to find a buyer.
Albert Wright Jr., CEO and president of WVU Medicine, said he worked out a deal with the governor to keep portions of Fairmont Regional open while the new facility is built.
The governor told WVNews that WVU Medicine will be taking over operations of Fairmont Regional, but the facility will need to close for about a month to iron out some details and obtain the right licenses.
WVU plans to move patients to nearby facilities while the hospital is closed, Mr. Wright said.
"There's going to be a bridge period of transferring the [certificate of need] and transferring the records and getting everything in place," the governor said. "We're going to probably have 30 days that we’re going to be nonfunctional. Beyond that, though, we'll be functional at the old hospital until the new one is up and going."