MUSC to buy up Providence Health, other hospitals in SC’s Midlands
Another South Carolina health provider will expand its reach in the region and in Columbia.
The Medical University of South Carolina is aiming to buy Columbia-based Providence Hospital and KershawHealth Medical Center in Camden, a top state lawmaker confirmed to The State.
House budget chief Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told The State Thursday if the MUSC board approves the acquisition of Providence/Lifepoint hospitals Friday, the Legislature’s State Fiscal and Accountability Authority will vote to approve Tuesday.
A source familiar with plans also confirmed the sale to The State Thursday.
“I was supportive of Prisma acquiring those hospitals in their attempt last year,” Smith said. “Now that they’re not able to do it, I couldn’t think of a better health care system other than MUSC to takeover those hospitals.”
MUSC spokeswoman Heather Woolwine would not confirm or deny the sale but said the health provider is seeking to expand.
“MUSC leaders are continually exploring options that enable us to reinforce our commitment to serving the community — across our state, region and beyond,” Woolwine said in a provided statement. “At this time, we have no additional information to share on this topic.”
The sale was first reported by the Charleston Post and Courier.
In March 2020, Prisma Health, which already owns several hospitals in the Columbia area as well as the Upstate, announced it would acquire Providence and KershawHealth in Camden from LifePoint Health. The sale would have left Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia as the only Midlands hospital not run by Prisma Health.
“We’ve tasked MUSC over the years to fill voids in health care in rural areas of the state, and we had the possibility of Kershaw County not having a hospital and Fairfield not having an emergency room if Lifepoint had closed down their hospitals in South Carolina, and MUSC has filled in those potential voids,” Smith said. “I think this is a big win for South Carolina and especially for the rural areas of South Carolina.”
Providence was Columbia’s Catholic hospital for 77 years until LifePoint Health of Tennessee purchased the hospital at Forest Drive and Two Notch Road in 2015. The company also operates the Providence Northeast campus on Farrow Road off Interstate 77, as well as a free-standing emergency room in Fairfield County.
Last year, several state opposed the proposed sale to Prisma, raising the specter of layoffs and the narrowing of health care options for Midlands residents. Prisma was formed in 2017 when the Greenville Health System and Palmetto Health of Columbia merged. The system is based in Greenville.
One legislator called Prisma “the greatest generator of unemployment in Columbia.”
“Good neighbors don’t do what Prisma is doing here, coming in and taking over a major institution without even talking to legislators about it,” state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, said after the Prisma-Providence deal was announced in 2020.
On Thursday, Harpootlian told The State his concerns still stand.
“Someone needs to buy them I guess,” Harpootlian said of Providence, but added, “I am little concerned we’re going to end up with three hospitals in South Carolina. Not sure these mega chains like Prisma and MUSC are good ideas, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I sure would like to see how this helps the consumer, not the hospital. I’m not sure that’s (the sale) healthy, no pun intended.”
But state Rep. Kirkman Finlay, R-Richland, told The State Thursday, “it’s great for Columbia to have competition.”
“I think Prisma has been viewing Columbia perhaps a bit too monopolistically,” Finlay said. “MUSC has great relations with the state government, and I look forward to working with them.”
Finlay also said MUSC has been open about discussing problems, unlike Prisma, he added.
“When you ask financial questions of Prisma, they get very defensive,” Finlay said. “When you ask financial questions of MUSC, they are very forthcoming.”
Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland said that if the transaction goes through, he would welcome MUSC to the Midlands in hopes that Lower Richland and other parts of Richland County could gain more “appropriate health care options.”
“I think MUSC is an awesome health care system. I’ve had the opportunity to work with them for many years and just think that they are fantastic,” Jackson said.
Local governments also were leery of last year’s Prisma-Providence proposal. Columbia City Council issued a joint statement with Fairfield, Kershaw and Lexington county councils asking Prisma Health to “slow down” its bid for Providence.
But at-large Columbia City Councilman Howard Duvall said the city council eventually came around on the idea of Prisma buying Providence, after discussion with Prisma officials.
”The leadership of Prisma met with the council individually and explained to us how that merger would have worked,” Duvall said. “We felt like it would have been in the Midlands’ interest to support that merger.”
Duvall declined comment on the would-be MUSC bid to buy Providence, saying he had not yet heard details of the deal.
In April 2021, Prisma Health announced the planned merger was off, saying the “complex regulatory path” had caused too many delays and “made it prohibitive to move forward,” the company said in a statement.
Reporters Lucas Daprile, Laurryn Salem and Chris Trainor contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 4:00 PM.
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