Temple Health is losing its CFO to West Virginia University Health System

Temple University Health System’s CFO, Nicholas J. Barcellona, is leaving in June to take the same position at West Virginia University Health System.

Barcellona came to Temple less than three years ago from UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Temple’s notice to bondholders credited Barcellona with building “a stellar finance team” and “restoring financial discipline, strength, and stability to TUHS by modernizing finance functions.”

WVU Health said this month it hired Barcellona after a national search to replace its retiring CFO. Based in Morgantown, W.Va., it had $4.7 billion in revenue last year, compared to Temple’s $2.6 billion in its fiscal year that ended last June 30.

Under Barcellona and the CEO who hired him, Mike Young, Temple had several years of solid financial performance — even before counting COVID-19 aid to hospitals — and was able to start making up for delayed investment in buildings and equipment.

The nonprofit system, owned by Temple University, also expanded by acquiring the former Cancer Treatment Centers of America building in the Juniata Park section of Philadelphia. Temple is turning it into a women’s hospital. Temple also led a group that bought Chestnut Hill Hospital from Tower Health.

But financial results have been rough in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Temple reported an operating loss of $103 million, compared to a $65 million gain in the first six months of fiscal 2022.