COLUMBIA, S.C. — The board of the Medical University of South Carolina has voted to acquire several hospitals in the Midlands, just months after Prisma Health backed off buying the same medical centers.
The board held a meeting in Columbia Friday morning where they announced their intention to purchase Providence Health and Providence Health Northeast in Richland County as well as KershawHealth in Camden, Those medical facilities are all owned by LifePoint Health. Included in the deal are several physician practices locations as well as an emergency room in Fairfield County.
“MUSC has tremendous potential to meet the growing needs of patients and families around our state," said James Lemon, D.M.D., chairman of the MUSC board, in a statement. "That is why we are excited about today’s announcement. As the only comprehensive health sciences facility in the state, with an unmatched record of patient care and meaningful research, MUSC has the unique capacity to improve health outcomes for those it serves."
Terry Gunn, the CEO of Providence and Kerhsaw Health, said his hospitals are "excited" to join MUSC. Our objective is and has always been positioning our facilities for success so that we can fulfill our purpose of delivering high-quality care close to home," he said.
The purchase is expected to take months to finalize and must undergo some regulatory approval from the state and federal government.
Back in March of 2020, Prisma Health announced they were acquiring those same hospitals. But in April of this year they reversed course, citing "significant delays and challenges with the Federal Trade Commission and state regulatory authorities have made it prohibitive to move forward."
Prisma said at the time they still believed their vision for the hospitals was good.
Providence Health was founded in 1938, and has been owned by LifePoint since 2016. KershawHealth is even older, having been created in 1913. It joined LifePoint in 2018.