State-run hospitals, struggling to fill full-time nursing positions, are heavily reliant on contract positions to fill gaps. It cost the state $284 million since 2015 since contract positions pay more than the state’s own full-time nursing jobs.

The Department of Health Facilities’ lengthy hiring process and questionable budgeting practices combined with a national nurse shortage have led to a reliance on contract labor, according to an audit presented to lawmakers on Tuesday. Meanwhile, contract labor’s price tag has risen. 

“From fiscal year 2015 to 2023, the total annual expenditure for contract clinical staff increased 955%,” said Mike Jones, audit manager with the Post Audit Division.

The audit, conducted by the Legislature’s Post Audit Division, reviewed the Department of Health Facilities hiring process prior to it becoming its own agency this year. It found that, on average, it took 688 days to post jobs and hire full-time nurses. 

“That’s among the most ridiculous things I’ve heard in a long time,” House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, said in response. “Can anyone respond to that? Anyone?”

Aaron Snodgrass, health facilities finance officer, said he couldn’t provide clarity but noted that the agency was posting jobs much more quickly at this time.

With the likely continued rising cost of contract nursing, the legislative auditor recommended that lawmakers “consider if the continued operation of health facilities by the state is in the best long-term interests of the state and address the issues as it sees fit. “

DHF leaders have said they’re already considering selling four of the state-run hospitals to private providers largely due to operation costs. Snodgrass told lawmakers that the audit was fair and he was not surprised by the findings.

“We are working with a broker to find investors who want to invest in these facilities. I can’t really provide any additional information on that because it’s not my project,” he said.

In DHF’s official response to the audit, it said the department contracted with Lument Securities earlier this year to look for outside buyers. West Virginia Watch on Sept. 23 filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of DHF’s contract with Lument; an attorney with DHF recently delayed possibly sharing the contract until Dec. 20.

DHF operates four long-term care facilities: Hopemont Hospital in Terra Alta; Jackie Withrow Hospital in Beckley; John Manchin Health Care Center in Fairmont; and Lakin Hospital in West Columbia. The department also operates two psychiatric facilities — William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital in Weston and Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington — along with Welch Community Hospital.

Contract nurses involved in crimes, patient death at hospitals

Lawmakers requested the audit due to concerns about “ambiguous information around expenditures,” cost concerns with state-run hospitals and more.

There was not a line item dedicated to contract nursing, according to the audit.

There are 846 allocated positions in the seven hospitals for full-time clinical nurses. Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, noted that the audit failed to say how many positions were being filled by contract nurses.

The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the state’s reliance on contract nursing, and from 2019 to 2020, the cost jumped from $20 million to more than $40 million.

“These staffing issues are not new or unique to hospitals in West Virginia. They existed before COVID, which only worsened the issue … No single policy has addressed the issue,” Jones said.

The millions of dollars spent on contract nursing were paid out to 33 vendors over the last nine years; 28 of those were out-of-state vendors. Sharpe Hospital, where multiple contract employees have been charged with crimes, spent $30 million on contract staffing last year. 

The state spent $3.8 million on contract nursing in Hopemont Hospital in 2023. Three contract employees were fired there this year who were involved in a gruesome death of an elderly patient in a boiling whirlpool.

The audit noted that West Virginia was not immune to issues sparked by the national nursing shortage. Lawmakers and educators have attempted to bolster the state’s nursing programs, including the creation of a West Virginia Nursing Academy that starts for kids in ninth grade. The Legislature provided $20 million in surplus funding for continued education initiatives started in the Governor’s Nursing Workforce Program in 2024.

“Are any of the programs that we have done in the past few years to bolster the nursing programs working?” Young asked.

Snodgrass said that it will take years to graduate more nurses in the state.

“We are seeing positive results within the department,” he said. “When we come back in budget meetings in the spring, if trends continue that we’re seeing, we’ll have good positive results to report for contract nursing.”

PITTSBURGH — Pitt Panthers women’s basketball suffered their first defeat of the season, an 82-54 blowout to rival No. 15 West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl on the road on Nov. 12.

The Panthers (2-1) lose their seventh straight to the Mountaineers (3-0) since 2011, when they both played in the Big East. It also makes it 59 straight losses to a ranked opponent since 2015.

This is the fourth game they’ve played since departing the Big East, with losses at home in 2018 and 2023 and losses on the road this season and in 2017. This also drops Pitt to 7-15 on the road vs. WVU and 18-30 in the all-time series.

Pitt saw one of their best players suffer an early injury in the first minute of the first quarter, as junior guard Amiya Jenkins fell to the ground and grabbing her left knee. Medical staff helped her off the court, but her abscence didn’t help Pitt at all, especially on offense.

The Panthers shot 19-for-58 from the field, 32.8%, and 5-for-22 from 3-point range, 22.7%, as they struggled to break down the Mountaineers’ halfcourt defense.

Pitt also had a tough time dealing with WVU’s press, as they turned the ball over 30 times, leading to 34 points for the home team.

The 30 turnovers Pitt committed is the most since they committed 35 turnovers in an 81-39 defeat to then ranked No. 3 Louisville on the road on Jan. 6, 2022.

The Mountaineers shot poorly themselves, 27-for-68 from the field, 39.7%, and 6-for-30 from behind the arc, 20%.

Both teams shot well from the foul line, with Pitt making 11-of-15 attempts, 73.3%, and West Virginia converting 22-of-27 attempts, 81.5%. The rivalry featured both teams committing more than 20 fouls each, leading to large number of foul shots.

Graduate student center Khadija Faye led the Panthers with her second double-double of the season, 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting and two free throws, plus 12 rebounds before fouling out.

Sophomore forward Lauren Rust had the best game of her Pitt career, scoring 12 points, making a 3-pointer and all three free throws. Senior forward MaKayla Elmore added nine points herself, making a 3-pointer and two foul shots.

Players that struggled for Pitt included guards in redshirt sophomore Mikayla Johnson, who shot 4-for-20 from the field and 1-for-10 from deep and both senior Brooklynn Miles and junior Marley Washenitz, who combined for 0-for-9 from the field and scored zero points.

West Virginia got production from guards in senior JJ Quinerly, who led the way with 17 points, and juniors Jordan Harrison and Sydney Shaw, who scored 14 points and 11 points each, respectively.

Pitt will stay on the road this weekend and look to bounce back as they face Binghamton in Vestal, N.Y. on Nov. 17 with a 1:30 p.m. tip-off.

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One week after winning his bid to be West Virginia’s next governor, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey on Tuesday shared his plans and priorities as he prepares to advance to the state’s highest office.

Helping Morrisey will be a team of seven transition team “co-leaders” who — along with yet-to-be-named members of the full transition team — will assist the governor-elect in creating policy priorities that he says will allow him to get to work on his first day in office. Among those co-leaders is a former coal lobbyist and operator, House Majority Leader Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, and several Republican political operatives, among others.

All members of the transition team are volunteers, Morrisey said. The transition work is being organized through the West Virginia Prosperity Group, an independent nonprofit organization focused on “advocating for conservative values.”

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the West Virginia Prosperity Group was formed as a 501(c)4 nonprofit on Sept. 11 and was incorporated by Scott Will, who previously worked as Morrisey’s campaign manager for his attorney general races. Will also worked as a senior advisor with the Black Bear PAC, a political action committee that spent more than $11 million this election supporting Morrisey’s bid for governor, according to Open Secrets. Morrisey said Tuesday that Will — along with Marisa Findlay, president of the state’s Federation of Republican Women — was working as a consultant for the transition 

The goals for a Morrisey administration at this point seem, for the most part, to echo the priorities of his predecessor, Gov. Jim Justice, who is preparing to start his first term as West Virginia’s newest senator. 

“I’m looking forward to building on past successes but really also taking some additional steps to really help West Virginia rise in those economic rankings,” Morrisey said. “I’m not satisfied with being 48th, 49th, and 50th. So I think what you’re going to see over the course of the next four years is an aggressive effort to rise in those rankings.”

In the weeks and months leading up to him taking office, Morrisey said he wants to meet with legislative leaders to discuss legislation that could come up in next year’s regular session and, maybe, reach consensus before the Legislature even gavels in.

“We want to develop a common agenda where the governor, the House, the Senate, all come together and we could move a series of bills that might be agreed to up front,” Morrisey said. “I’m excited to do that, and so I’m looking forward to sitting down at great length with them to develop the agenda.”

Morrisey said he wants to see advancements in the state’s economics and commerce through more investment from the private sector, a focus on policies to help the state reach its “energy potential” and efforts conducive to “maintaining West Virginia values,” including defending the Second Amendment and the “sanctity of life.” 

“I’ve always been very worried that there were agendas coming out of the Biden-Harris Administration,” Morrisey said.

“You’ve heard the word ‘woke’ before, you’ve heard the word ‘DEI’ before, and those are not, in my mind, West Virginia values, and we’re not going to be an administration that’s going to be advancing those values,” he continued, referring to the acronym commonly meaning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

As attorney general, Morrisey’s office has spearheaded and participated in numerous legal proceedings to limit the rights of and health care access for people who are transgender. 

Throughout his time in office, Morrisey has been vocally anti-abortion and critical of policies he associates with liberal ideology. He’s been a proponent for “school choice” educational policies — including the school voucher program, which gives public dollars to private institutions — saying during last month’s gubernatorial debate that he wants to see them expanded in coming years.

On the environment, his office has actively fought against measures to increase environmental regulations that reduce the impacts of climate change and hold companies accountable for the damage their extraction activities cause to communities and public health.

On Tuesday, however, the soon-to-be governor said that he wants his administration to work for all West Virginians, even those he disagrees with and those who have been on the opposing side of or targeted by his legal work. Anyone in the state is invited to submit feedback on the West Virginian Prosperity Group’s website, Morrisey said, and he wants to read everything that is sent in.

“I make no bones about it. I am conservatively oriented, but I like to be open-minded to different ideas and listen to people to try to come up with the right decisions,” ​​Morrisey said. “… we have specific values, and I don’t hide what they are. So I will say that, and if we disagree, I think we could disagree respectfully and we can do so in a civil manner. That’s the approach I try to use, and I’ve always tried that and I think people can have a chance to see that.”

Morrisey’s inauguration will be on Jan. 13. He said that more announcements will be made in coming weeks regarding staffing for his administration, policy priorities and more.