Growth & Transformation at MUSC Health

This past year underscored our continued growth and transformation. MUSC Health forged new relationships and innovated to change the way health care is delivered in South Carolina and beyond. Some highlights from 2022 include the launch of In Our DNA SC, a community genetics research project, a collaboration with the Citadel to deliver care to cadets, an affiliation with Palmetto Infusion, joining the Butterfly network, the development of the Hollings Cancer Network, our affiliation with Self Regional Healthcare, forward progress at Sea Island Medical Pavilion, the creation of Ovatient with MetroHealth System, our affiliation with Shriner’s Children’s Hospital to deliver pediatric burn services, and much more.

We continued to see growth in the Florence, Midlands and Lancaster divisions. In the Florence division, Florence Medical Center was named a High Performing by U.S. News & World Report in the areas of COPD, heart failure, heart attack, and kidney failure. U.S. News also named The Florence Women’s Pavilion as the state’s only High Performing hospital for Maternity Care. In addition, the Florence Medical Center was awarded an 11th straight LeapFrog “A” Hospital Grade. A huge accomplishment in this division is the planning and efforts dedicated to opening MUSC Health Black River Medical Center, replacing Williamsburg Regional Hospital and Lake City Community Hospital. Last, but certainly not least, we opened a Research Clinic satellite location in Florence, where multiple clinical trials are being conducted.

In the Lancaster division, we added robotic surgery, kidney transplant, and vascular interventional radiology services. In addition, many new providers joined this division. Of note, we collaborated with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) to open a secure inpatient unit at Chester Medical Center designed to treat SCDC patients throughout South Carolina. This partnership represented a first of its kind in the state and one of few inpatient units that treat prison patients across the country. 

The Midlands Division celebrated its first anniversary as a member of the MUSC Health family. During this busy year, the Midlands successfully completed an Epic EHR go-live and onboarded over 40 new providers across the division. New service lines include – Low Dose CT, Advanced Heart Failure, Vascular Surgery, and Bariatric Surgery and Endocrinology. 

The Midlands Division continues to lead the way in patient care and innovation by being the first to provide robotic assisted spine surgery in Neurology, the first hospital in South Carolina to launch Siemens Healthineers remote scanning MRI service, and the first academic medical system to go-live with a partnership between the VA and WellHive, the leader in digital care navigation within the federal government, to expand access to care for our veteran community. 

With the addition of two DaVinci robots to the Northeast and Downtown Columbia campuses, the Midlands Division expanded its robotic surgery offerings to include women’s health and expanded general surgery offerings. 

The Midlands Division also implanted two new cardiovascular devices: Barostim – the world’s first FDA-approved heart failure device to improve systems of patients with systolic heart failure and TCAR – a carotid stent procedure that results in a much lower incidence of stroke than with traditional stents.

These affiliations and collaborations have provided a solid foundation for health care delivery in South Carolina and have allowed MUSC Health the ability to deliver “the right care, in the right place, at the right time”. 

Accompanied with our strong telehealth capabilities, this helps to address the growing rural health care access and delivery challenges in South Carolina. MUSC must continue to enhance these relationships and deliver outstanding quality care to patients to contend with market disruptors and intense competition. 

Last year, I mentioned how the MUSC care team members have overcome difficult challenges and exceeded expectations during very challenging times. This year is no different – we have come out of the pandemic stronger and with a steadfast resolve to deliver on our mission. 

I am pleased to share this with you.

Yours in health,

Patrick J. Cawley, MD
CEO, MUSC Health
Executive Vice President Health Affairs, University