WASHINGTON (February 5, 2026) - The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced WVU Medicine Potomac Valley Hospital (PVH) in Keyser, W.Va., as the 2026 recipient of the new Rural Hospital Excellence in Innovation Award. The award recognizes the accomplishments of rural hospitals that exemplify responsiveness, innovation and excellence in developing and sustaining programs and services. The award will be presented at the 39th annual AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference, which will be held Feb. 8-11 in San Antonio.

Before 2018, the PVH ICU was closed due to lack of specialty care knowledge, which meant ICU patients would be transferred to other facilities. The PVH administrative team partnered with critical care intensivist Alison Wilson, M.D. and the newly-formed hospitalist team to propose a solution to its parent organization, West Virginia University Health System. PVH would reopen as a virtual ICU as a pilot program for the health system, working directly with intensivists at WVU's flagship hospital, Ruby Memorial. Physicians at Ruby Memorial could view patient charts and medical records and use telehealth to allow discussions and viewing of patients in real time. The virtual ICU dramatically reduces the need for patient transfers in many cases and provides full access to needed care within the PVH facility and the patient's home community. In addition, the virtual ICU minimizes disparities in health outcomes, particularly among under- or uninsured patients.

The virtual ICU at PVH has had a substantial impact by treating acutely ill patients in their own community, which lessens the burden on patients and their families to travel for lifesaving care. The technology involved has become a seamless part of the PVH ICU's overall function, and the success of this program led the hospital's leadership team to implement telehealth in other hospital departments, bringing quality specialty care to a rural, critical access hospital.

The AHA Rural Hospital Excellence in Innovation Award also recognized as finalists Brattleboro Memorial Hospital in Brattleboro, Vt.; Reid Health in Richmond, Ind.; and Scotland Health Care System in Laurinburg, N.C.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's use of the Mobile Integrated Health Initiative (MIH) identifies gaps in access and continuity of care - particularly for joint replacement patients, patients with chronic conditions and those living in rural areas. The need for this initiative was identified through high emergency department utilization rates, costly readmissions, and gaps in post-discharge care for patients with chronic conditions and those recovering from surgery. Many rural patients in Vermont face transportation, mobility and socioeconomic barriers that prevent timely access to outpatient care, increasing the risk of avoidable hospital use. MIH addresses these issues by integrating EMS professionals into coordinated care teams, bridging clinical gaps with in-home assessments, education, telehealth and real-time communication with primary care providers. Key services include rapid in-home intervention by EMS, medication management and patient education, telehealth support through scheduled or on-demand visits, coordination with primary and specialty care, and the identification of social needs with connection to appropriate community resources.

Reid Health brings innovation directly to rural patients. Their approach addresses provider efficiency and patient experience simultaneously by enabling real-time documentation from natural clinician-patient conversations using Abridge. Through a partnership with HelloCare.ai, every inpatient room features Epic-synced digital whiteboards, virtual nursing capabilities and virtual sitting technology. Reid Health achieved 10-12 minutes saved per clinical note, allowing more patient face time and over 60% same-day note completion rates. Patient satisfaction improved dramatically, with feedback highlighting increased provider attention and technology experiences comparable to urban facilities.

Scotland Health developed Scotland Health at Home, which included the hospital's first community health worker position. Scotland Health at Home aimed to reduce rates of emergency department usage by the top 10 percent of their high-risk patient population, many of whom suffer from chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart failure and COPD. The program enrolled patients in a program that would connect them with one of their system's primary care practices and give them access to community services and resources to help them lead healthier lives. The addition of community paramedics to the program has further enhanced patient care. Now in its third year, the program has helped at-risk patients to be more active in the community and, in some cases, secure and keep a job because of their improved health.

The AHA Rural Hospital Excellence in Innovation Award is sponsored by Microsoft. Microsoft is committed to supporting all rural hospitals in the U.S. with affordable access to cybersecurity, cybersecurity risk assessments and innovation to address root challenges.

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About the American Hospital AssociationThe American Hospital Association (AHA) is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA advocates on behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners - including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers - and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides insight and education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at https://www.aha.org.