Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Guest: Nick Barcellona, Chief Financial Officer, WVU Medicine
Host: Will Riley (R1), for Becker's Healthcare
Date: December 16, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features Nick Barcellona, CFO of WVU Medicine, discussing the organization's remarkable growth, the integration of insurance and provider services, and the innovative approach WVU Medicine is taking with technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. The conversation delves into the shifting role of technology, balancing efficiency with provider and patient experience, and how AI is shaping the future of healthcare operations—from revenue cycle management to bedside care.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. WVU Medicine’s Growth and Strategic Priorities

(00:51–03:20)

• WVU Medicine Overview:

  • Serves four states, anchored in West Virginia with hospitals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
  • Initiated its own health plan in 2023; has nearly tripled in size over four years.
  • Emphasizing a “hub and spoke” model, headquartered in Morgantown (900 beds).

• Geographical Investments:

  • Strategic investment in regional hubs to ensure patients don’t need to travel long distances.
  • Current focus areas include Martinsburg, Wheeling, Weirton, Charleston, and Parkersburg.

• Integrated Delivery Network:

  • Launched Peak Healthcare (insurance arm) and debuted Medicare Advantage in 2024.
  • Integration of payer and provider roles enables better population health management.

  "Our mission is to improve the health trajectory of West Virginians and all those we serve. And so being both on the payer side and on the provider side, we think that gives us the best opportunity to do so."
  — Nick Barcellona (03:15)

2. Embracing Technology & Artificial Intelligence

(03:20–05:12)

• Healthcare’s Technological Evolution:

  • Historically cautious adoption of new tech, healthcare is now accelerating AI integration.
  • Recognizes healthcare as “behind the curve,” now catching up and driving innovation.

• AI’s Multi-Faceted Value:

  • Patient experience improvements.
  • Alleviating workforce challenges and clinician burnout.
  • Unlocking cost efficiency, which is especially relevant from a CFO perspective.

  "AI is revolutionizing a lot of different industries and I think healthcare is certainly one of them ... There’s benefits for the consumers, for the physicians, for the clinical staff, and that's what I'm most excited about."
  — Nick Barcellona (03:53)

3. Innovation Approach: Pioneers or Settlers?

(05:12–07:15)

• WV Tradition—Pioneers vs. Settlers:

  • WVU prefers the “settler” role, adopting proven technologies after initial risks are mitigated.
  • Open to transformational solutions but prefer a conservative, measured implementation.

• Interdisciplinary Governance:

  • Formation of Data Governance and AI Governance Committees.
  • Involvement of clinical, financial, and IT leaders to ensure balanced perspectives.

  "We think of it like pioneers and settlers ... In many instances, we kind of want to be the settler, right? We don't want to be that pioneer because we don't need to be."
  — Nick Barcellona (05:49)

4. AI & Data Governance: Prioritization and Decision-making

(07:15–09:14)

• Committee Function:

  • Prioritizes hundreds of potential AI projects using defined, objective metrics.
  • Team doubled in size (from 4 to 8), highlighting commitment to scaling innovation rationally.

• Avoid Loudest Voice Pitfalls:

  • Previously, projects often followed the most vocal stakeholders; now, a metrics-driven approach ensures strategic alignment.

  "At WVU Medicine, we can do anything. We just can’t do everything ... You have to be able to prioritize."
  — Nick Barcellona (08:20)

5. Metrics for Innovation: Efficiency & Provider Experience

(09:14–11:00)

• Efficiency as Core Metric:

  • Technology investments are evaluated for their impact on efficiency for both patients and staff.
  • Integrated payer-provider model offers a unique cross-sectional view.

• Provider Wellbeing as Key Dimension:

  • Focus on reducing administrative burden for clinicians—emphasizing technologies like ambient listening that aid documentation and help restore work-life balance.

  "To be able to see some technology that's actually having a really positive impact, and the physicians coming and kind of saying thank you ... that's meaningful."
  — Nick Barcellona (10:27)

6. Revenue Cycle Transformation

(11:00–13:33)

• Shift in Labor Paradigm:

  • Revenue cycle is moving from a labor-driven to a technology-first model.
  • Rapid transformation raises anxiety about job security but opens avenues for reskilling and redeployment.

• Upskilling & Change Management:

  • Emphasis on retraining staff for emerging roles such as documentation or coding liaisons, ensuring skilled labor remains crucial.
  • Cultural adjustment: overcoming initial resistance by demonstrating tangible day-to-day benefits.

  "At first people can be resistant, but then when they figure it out and figure that it's actually going to help them ... they start to get excited."
  — Nick Barcellona (12:56)

• Bottom-up Innovation:

  • Real-world improvements often suggested by frontline employees.

  "The best ideas don't always come from the CFO or the CEO. They come from the frontline folks ... that's the real work that we do."
  — Nick Barcellona (13:14)

7. Payer-Provider Dynamics: Technology’s Role

(13:33–15:17)

• Persistent Tensions:

  • Skepticism that technology alone can “level the playing field” between payers and providers.
  • Hope that reducing administrative noise through tech will enable focus on substantive, patient-centered conversations (e.g., for costly new therapies).

  "If you can leverage technology to make sure you're focused on what you're really trying to accomplish, that's where I think, hopefully we can get to that point."
  — Nick Barcellona (14:11)

8. Impact on Patients

(15:17–17:03)

• Tangible Patient Benefits:

  • Technologies like ambient documentation free clinicians to engage directly and meaningfully with patients, improving bedside manner and human connection.
  • Smarter scheduling and registrations via AI enhance convenience and access.

  "To have, you know, a physician sort of facing sideways typing and not even looking at you, that's not a good experience ... to give that back to them so they can sit there and have real bedside manner and have meaningful human interactions with the patients—that's the most beneficial thing for our patients when I think about the advent of technology."
  — Nick Barcellona (15:52)

• Continuous Improvement:

  • Acknowledges that while technology isn’t perfect, real benefits are already emerging.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We can do anything. We just can’t do everything." (08:20)
• "At first people can be resistant, but then when they figure it out and figure that it's actually going to help them ... they start to get excited." (12:56)
• "To give that back to them so they can sit there and have real bedside manner and have meaningful human interactions with the patients—that's the most beneficial thing for our patients when I think about the advent of technology." (15:52)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• WVU Medicine’s Growth and Priorities: 00:51–03:20
• Technology & AI in Healthcare: 03:20–05:12
• Innovation Approach: Pioneers vs. Settlers: 05:12–07:15
• AI/Data Governance and Prioritization: 07:15–09:14
• Efficiency & Provider Experience Metrics: 09:14–11:00
• Revenue Cycle Transformation & Workforce Impact: 11:00–13:33
• Tech and Payer-Provider Dynamics: 13:33–15:17
• Patient Experience and Technology: 15:17–17:03

Summary Tone

The tone is pragmatic, optimistic, and rooted in real-world insight. Barcellona’s perspective balances excitement for transformational change with West Virginia practicality—focused on measurable outcomes, sustainable growth, and genuinely improving the experience for clinicians, staff, and patients alike.