Becker's list: WVU Medicine's revenue rank among 63 health systems, and what it means

Dominion Post

7 days ago

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MORGANTOWN – Becker's Hospital Review recently compiled a list ranking 63 health systems by annual revenue. WVU Medicine ranked 48th, at $6 billion.
Nick Barcellona, WVU Medicine chief financial officer, talked to The Dominion Post about what that number means.
'We've been growing pretty dramatically,' he said. With Weirton Medical Center joining the system this year, WVUM now has 25 hospitals.
Becker's observed at the top of its list, 'Most health systems saw revenue climb in 2024 as patient volumes rebounded and provider productivity improved – a sign of recovery across the industry.'
Barcellona provided a chart WVUM prepared for the 2025 Barclay's Not-For-Profit Healthcare Investor Conference that show's the system's revenue growth from 2015 – showing steady growth through 2020, and more dramatic growth as nine regional hospitals joined from 2021 and WVUM Children's opened on the Morgantown campus in 2022.
Revenue grew from $1.652 billion in 2015 to $3.123 billion in 2020; then $4.050 billion in 2021, $4.664 billion in 2022, $6.009 billion in 2023, and $6.764 billion in 2024. They will be north of $7 billion this year.
A quick aside: WVUM had given Becker's its 2023 figure for the list. Its 2024 revenue would have moved it up seven notches to 41st. Among those it would have passed, neighboring No. 43 University Hospitals in Cleveland and No. 44 OhioHealth in Columbus would have bumped down to 44th and 45th, respectively.
Back to Barcellona, who said WVUM's operating margin, cash flow and revenue have remained stable and are growing. 'Which is pretty unusual for organizations that go through periods of growth the way we've gone through. That's core to our strategy.'
They integrate hospitals and put them on the WVUM systems – electronic medical records and such. For example, Weirton joined in January and quickly adopted WVUM's EPIC medical record system. 'That sort of seamless integration is, we think, key to our success and continued growth.'
Bur revenue growth isn't the central issue, he said. 'Having scale in a business that runs very thin operating margins is' Scale helps drive cost savings and efficiencies to better deliver care and improve outcomes.
Barcellona emphasized that there's a misconception that being a nonprofit means you shouldn't make a profit. It means you should make as much as possible and reinvest it back in the mission. 'That's really what we're trying to do.'
WVUM's operating margin, he showed in one of the Barclay's charts, is about 2.5%. 'In our industry, in healthcare, that's pretty good. In any other sector that's terrible.'
Asked about WVUM's place on the ranking list, he said that's not too important. They're not seeking accolades. 'We're out there trying to deliver high level care and great service.'
To West Virginia's west, Cleveland Clinic ranks 16th, at $15.9 billion. We told Barcellona that we were surprised that WVUM's immediate neighbor to the north, UPMC, ranked 6th at $29.9 billion. We knew UPMC was bigger, but not that it's nearly five times bigger.
He put that into perspective. Virtually all of WVUM's revenue is driven by its 25 hospitals, he said. UPMC has more than 40 hospitals, but $17 billion of its total revenue comes from its insurance plan – UPMC Insurance Services, with more than 4 million subscribers (according to UPMC).
So that makes the UPMC system only about 2 times bigger, he said.
UPMC recently gained a foothold in Morgantown, and 14 other sites across West Virginia, after acquiring the MedExpress chain from Optum last October. The UPMC logo can be seen on what was MedExpress at the corner of W.VA. 705 and Pineview – between the Ruby hospital and Mon Health campuses.
Barcellona said it's too soon to tell what that might mean – but they haven't seen or felt any impact at this point.
We wound up the conversation with what's next for WVUM.
'Growth for growth's sake is never a good thing,' he said. 'Continuing to invest in breadth and depth across our footprint is really important for our future.'
He talked about investing in regions – instead of one Morgantown hub with small spokes, WVUM is evolving with Morgantown becoming a hub of hubs – including Martinsburg, Parkersburg and Wheeling/Weirton.
On that subject, we reported earlier this year that WVU Health System announced in mid-April $460 million worth of capital projects – following a round of $400 million worth announced in April 2024. This year's projects range across the system – including both panhandles, Bridgeport and Summersville.
'Really changing the way that we're growing, and of growing out more in these regions is the next phase of our evolution,' he said. 'And the beauty of that is it stays true to our mission.'
That two-prong mission is to improve the health trajectory of West Virginia and support the teaching mission of WVU.
The regional approach, he said, brings care closer to home for people around the state instead of bringing them to Morgantown.