The Medical University of South Carolina plans to add three Midlands hospitals to its growing network.

The board of trustees of MUSC and the Medical University Hospital Authority voted Friday to buy Providence Health and KershawHealth from LifePoint Health, according to MUSC. The deal includes three community hospitals, a freestanding emergency department and affiliated physician practices.

MUSC Health will pay $75 million, a price lower than previous offers for the hospitals, The Post and Courier reported. The board’s vote was unanimous, and MUSC expects to close the deal with Tennessee-based LifePoint on Aug. 1, MUSC Health CEO Dr. Pat Cawley told the newspaper. MUSC’s own announcement said the terms had not yet been disclosed.

The purchase covers Providence’s two hospitals in Columbia, KershawHealth’s medical center in Camden and an emergency department in Winnsboro, in Fairfield County. Any of the employees at those facilities who want to stay under the new ownership will be kept on, Cawley told The Post and Courier.

Approvals still needed

The deal can be finalized only after review and approval by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, which provides fiscal oversight for the state, according to MUSC. Other customary regulatory reviews must also be completed.

House Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith told The Post and Courier this week that the authority, led by Gov. Henry McMaster, was expected to take up the purchase on June 29.

“This is an exciting day for MUSC and for the state as we continue to develop our network with the acquisition of these health care facilities and establish a larger footprint in rural and underserved counties,” MUSC President Dr. David Cole said in the university’s announcement.

“This acquisition has the potential to be transformative for the Midlands and state,” Cawley said in the announcement.

What MUSC is buying

Providence Health was founded in 1938 by the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine and employs more than 1,800 people, according to MUSC’s announcement. Besides its two full-service hospitals, it runs a freestanding emergency room. Its open-heart surgery program has consistently ranked in the top 15% of such programs nationally, the announcement said.

KershawHealth was founded in 1913 as Camden Hospital. It has a 119-bed medical center and a 20-bed geriatric psychiatric unit and employs more than 700 people, according to MUSC. It has been an MUSC Health affiliate since 2015.

“We are excited about the prospect of joining MUSC Health,” said Terry Gunn, market chief executive officer of Providence Health and KershawHealth.

A deal that fell apart first

The hospitals were headed to a different buyer until this spring. Prisma Health, South Carolina’s largest health care system, signed a preliminary agreement with LifePoint in March 2020 to buy Providence, KershawHealth and the Fairfield County emergency room, The Post and Courier reported. The companies called off the deal April 9 after legal challenges.

“While both parties anticipated that the acquisition would have a complex regulatory path, significant delays and challenges with the Federal Trade Commission and state regulatory authorities have made it prohibitive to move forward,” the hospitals said in a joint statement at the time.

A growing statewide network

The purchase would add to MUSC’s statewide expansion. In late 2018, MUSC announced it was buying four community hospitals elsewhere in South Carolina, and The Post and Courier reported in 2019 that it was paying as much as $137 million for them.

“MUSC Health has existing relationships with several of these facilities through our longstanding affiliate network,” Cawley said in Friday’s announcement. “Incorporating them into our regional hospital network is another step toward fulfilling MUSC’s charge: to provide the right care in the right place at the right time to every patient and family that we encounter.”

The Post and Courier described MUSC Health as the state’s second-largest hospital system. MUSC brought in more than $271 million in biomedical research funding in fiscal 2020, according to the university.