Hospital aims to regain higher designation for trauma center

October 1, 2021 GMT

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia University Medicine Wheeling Hospital is working to regain a higher designation for its trauma center, officials said.

The hospital was downgraded recently from a Level II to a Level IV trauma center following a survey with the American College of Surgeons, hospital President and CEO Douglass Harrison said in a letter to EMS partners. The survey was done in 2019 and all gaps and deficiencies identified have been filled or will be by Nov. 1, Harrison said in a statement Thursday night, The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register reported.

“We’ve made tremendous strides in the trauma program since then, and we will continue to do so,” he said.

He said most deficiencies were related to gaps in medical coverage that have been filled by recruiting new physicians.

Another survey will be done in 2022.