As John Frankovitch prepares to retire as president and CEO of Weirton (W.Va.) Medical Center, he is leading the organization into its next major chapter.
Mr. Frankovitch will step down at the end of 2024 as the hospital plans to join Morgantown-based West Virginia University Health System. David Artman, the hospital's COO, will succeed Mr. Frankovitch as president and CEO on Jan. 1.
Since becoming CEO in 2016, Mr. Frankovitch has focused on securing the hospital's long-term success. After his retirement, he will assist with strategic and integration efforts as president emeritus of the board of trustees and a strategic adviser.
"It's sometimes forgotten, but hospitals — particularly community hospitals — are really the economic engines for most communities throughout the U.S.," Mr. Frankovitch told Becker's. "For Weirton Medical Center, we're the largest employer in the counties we serve. So there was a keen focus to make sure that we have a vision for long-term success for the community, not just in terms of making healthcare available, but the economic base of the community."
Upon evaluating the local and national healthcare environments, it became clear that community hospitals such as Weirton would likely need to pursue some form of affiliation to remain viable, he said.
For example, an IT system for a hospital the size of Weirton Medical Center could cost more than $70 million over a 10-year period, Mr. Frankovitch said. This does not include the costs of keeping pace with medical technology and capital expenses, he added.
In 2020, the hospital began collaborating with Morgantown, W.Va.-based WVU Medicine through a clinical partnership.
"A lot of the time, hospital affiliations are born from crisis, but that's not really the case with our affiliation," Mr. Frankovitch said. "This affiliation is one of opportunity."
While many large hospital systems acquire community hospitals to become sources for patients to be referred to its main hospitals, he said WVU Medicine's goal is to deliver advanced specialty care locally, aligning with Weirton Medical Center's goals.
"It expands on the notion that we can bring additional, higher-level specialty care to the patients we serve by working in collaboration with WVU Medicine," Mr. Frankovitch said. "Our goal is to make sure that patients can stay in the region and be treated for everything that can be done locally, and they only need to leave the region for things that can't be done locally."
After about 20 years in the healthcare industry, Mr. Frankovitch joined an insurance brokerage as an equity partner, which broadened his perspective.
"Commercial insurance is retail-oriented and customer-driven, and it really allowed me to understand the value of creating urgency in the decision process," he said. "In healthcare, this can sometimes move very slowly. One of the biggest roles that any CEO has is to create urgency around activities that get us closer to the overall mission."
Mr. Frankovitch's insurance experience also taught him to invest in developing exceptional customer service, which he has integrated at Weirton Medical Center by addressing patient concerns and requests in real time rather than relying solely on post-discharge surveys.
"As hospital professionals, it's crucial that we always create those opportunities for them to be heard in vulnerable moments," he said.
Reflecting on his more than 30 years with Weirton Medical Center as both an employee and board member, Mr. Frankovitch highlighted the collaborative nature of hospital operations.
"If the CEO of the hospital doesn't show up on a particular day, it doesn't really stop anything we're doing," he said. "But if the person responsible for cleaning the OR between cases doesn't show up, it's a big deal, and it impacts patient care. It's this beautiful symphony that goes on every day, where all these individual parts come together to deliver care. My focus has been on making sure we all understand this is a team effort — that without any member of that team, the whole thing stops."
He also expressed admiration for the hospital's employees.
"The commitment and dedication of every employee that comes into this building, sometimes in moments of absolute crisis, it's pretty humbling to walk through the doors and work with people like that every day," Mr. Frankovitch said. "It's pretty special to be able to say that you spent your career working with people that are that selfless."