Lexington hospital’s ‘quiet giant’ leaving impact beyond his tenure

Mike Biediger’s daily strolls through Lexington Medical Center to chat with staff, patients and hospital volunteers will end Sept. 30 – but his impact will last well beyond his retirement as its chief executive officer.

Biediger, 60, is seen as the driving force in transforming a middle-of-the-road hospital into a regional medical dynamo during 19 years as its leader.

His vision and determination made him “a quiet giant” in medical and business circles, said former Lexington County Councilman Bill Banning of West Columbia, who has known Biediger more than 20 years.

Lexington Medical is known for satisfied patients, contented doctors and community involvement in wellness and civic projects.

It was one of the first hospitals to work with doctors to improve patient well-being while taking over managerial tasks that freed physicians to concentrate on health care, South Carolina Hospital Association president Thornton Kirby said.

The 44-year-old hospital is much more than its main campus at I-20 and U.S. 378 near West Columbia.

Its network includes a nursing home and Alzheimer’s disease care unit near the town of Lexington, six community care centers placed around the 758-square-mile county, a physical fitness center and three offices for doctors, some with clinics offering medical care.

Biediger’s legacy will last after his departure as hospital officials plan to pursue significant expansion – all self-financed – through a plan developed under his leadership.

That blueprint includes opening a second hospital complex near the county seat within a decade.

County leaders call those steps vital to ensure health care keeps pace with steady growth in population foreseen to reach 365,000 in 2030, a rise of 90,000 from today.

“It’s become exactly what we hoped it would be,” County Council chairman Johnny Jeffcoat of Irmo said of the hospital’s reach. “He’s risen to the occasion.”

Lexington Medical is the most profitable hospital in the Midlands, according to a report by state health officials.

It netted $205.9 million from 2008-2011 – the latest compilation available. That is $38 million more than the other three hospitals in the Columbia area combined, the S.C. Health and Human Services report issued in 2013 states.

Although financially independent, the hospital works closely with county officials to improve ambulance service and emergency medical care.

It chipped in $2.5 million to help build a new $12 million center handling 911 calls. The hospital’s foundation supports a variety of causes, with county leaders sometimes referring requests for public donations to the foundation.

Becoming the county’s ‘big fish’

Biediger’s resolve was perhaps displayed best during the hospital’s successful but bruising 10-year quest to add an open-heart surgery unit.

The effort encountered several setbacks before a compromise with competing hospitals in 2010 made it possible. That unit now performs more than 300 operations a year, Lexington Medical Center spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson said.

Lexington challenged claims from Providence Hospital and Palmetto Health in Columbia that the area already had enough surgery units. Other medical groups joined the fight waged before state health officials and in court.

Biediger followed up that win with a partnership with Duke University that provides additional cardiovascular expertise as well as for oncology services.

The prestigious alliance with Duke underscores how far the hospital has come in evolving into a regional powerhouse in health care.

Its 6,000 employees are the largest payroll in the county, more than double that of the distribution center for online retailer Amazon and four times that of all other county workers.

Some health care analysts said Lexington Medical would be a prime target for merger, except that community leaders aren’t interested.

“They come with a very nice dowry,” said health care consultant Lynn Bailey of Columbia. “But they want to be the big fish in the pond that’s Lexington County.”

Some experts say the hospital could be much more, with improvements in orthopedics often cited as an example.

“When you think of Lexington Medical Center, you think of many things they’re good at but no one thing,” health care researcher Emerson Smith said.

What the hospital doesn’t want to be

Biediger insists the hospital works hard to attract medical staff and upgrade facilities and services to become an excellent source of medical care.

But it won’t want to step out of character by trying to become a site for educating doctors as some hospitals do, even with the University of South Carolina nearby, he said.

Lexington also isn’t interested in becoming a trauma center caring for those with life-threatening injuries, even though its emergency room is among the busiest in South Carolina. Hospital officials report more than 101,000 visits there in the fiscal year ending June 30.

“We work at what makes sense for us,” Biediger said.

The successes during his tenure as hospital leader came with some bumps.

Lexington Medical got black eyes from a pair of political and ethics conflicts:

▪  Gov. Nikki Haley was cleared of wrongdoing in 2012 after serving as a hospital fundraiser while she was a Lexington County legislator. It was a position her political foes say was a conflict of interest since it required lobbying that she failed to disclose initially. She was cleared twice by a House investigative panel.

▪  In 1998, the hospital paid $32,000 in legal fees related to an investigation of two doctors who sold land to it for a community care center in Lexington. The doctors at the time were serving on the board overseeing the medical center.

Biediger took heat for decisions of hospital board members that were “political favoritism from the get-go,” Bailey said.

As retirement approaches, Biediger looks ahead to become a doting grandfather, perhaps blending in part-time work as a teacher and consultant. He has two children and one granddaughter.

Even though his walk-throughs doubled as his stress relief, he said it’s time to ease back after 36 years of being a hospital executive, most of them at Lexington.

“I’m a little young, but I’ve got a lot of miles on me,” the 60-year-old said.