It has been a year since the Lowcountry first learned that its two local hospitals – Hilton Head Medical Center and Coastal Carolina Hospital – had been sold. The $2.4 billion acquisition, which included East Cooper Medical Center in Charleston County, saw our hospitals change hands from Tenet Healthcare to Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant Health.
Immediately questions began swirling: What would this deal mean for our local hospitals, not to mention their many associated facilities and physicians scattered across Beaufort and Jasper counties? Would this new company be able to keep up with the meteoric growth of the Lowcountry?
Speaking at the time of the initial acquisition announcement, Carl S. Armato, Novant Health’s president and CEO, said, “We’re excited about making this long-term investment for healthcare across our region. As a health system rooted in the Carolinas, we are committed to expanding the communities we serve across our regional delivery network known for safe, quality, patient-centered care in South Carolina.”
Adam Pegan, Chief Strategy Officer, Christina Brzezinski, Market Chief Nursing officer and Joel Taylor, Market President, reviewing plans for new Bluffton community hospital.
It didn’t take long for Lowcountry residents to see the real-world results of the company’s lofty promises. In February of this year, as the purchase was finalized, Ochsner Novant Health 65 Plus opened in Okatie. Three months later, Coastal Carolina opened its new operating room. In October, Novant Health donated a staggering $1 million to the Coastal Community Development Corporation for local affordable housing.
Just last month, the company announced that they had acquired statewide and local Doctor’s Care and PT Clinics, adding to an already robust referral network.
In short, Novant Health has spent the better part of their first year here in the Lowcountry setting a new standard. And they’re just getting started, with plans for a new full-service community hospital campus in Bluffton.
New HYDROS Robotic System at Coastal Carolina that uses AI-powered Aquablation therapy with a water jet to precisely remove excess prostate tissue and reduce the size of the gland.
“People are already seeing the difference in our new facilities,” said Market President Joel Taylor. “And with a new community hospital and freestanding ER planned for in Bluffton, we’re adding new options for patients, and reinvesting in jobs. It’s something that people are going to start seeing and feeling more over time. It’s really exciting.”
Taylor has been a part of our community for the past eight years, and he is one of many familiar faces in local healthcare who is enthusiastic for the change that Novant Health represents.
Ryan Lee, President at Coastal Carolina Hospital
“What I appreciate about Novant is how rapidly they’ve come to understand our community and respond to its needs,” Taylor said. “A lot of what they are investing in are areas where we’ve seen a real need, like investment in technology and recruitment of new physicians. Our community has grown, and responding to that growth is important.”
The most visible example of that rapid response was the addition of the new OR suite at Coastal Carolina this past May, something that President Ryan D. Lee points to as a clear sign of Novant Health’s commitment to the area.
Rendering of planned full-service, community hospital campus in Bluffton, part of Novant Health’s major health care hub in the Lowcountry, with a goal to increase access to health care and create as many as 1,000 jobs over five years.
“The support that Novant Health has given our community and our hospitals was the right thing to do for our patients,” Lee said. “We were able to quickly make that capital investment and recruit new physicians. … As we’ve seen, this area continues to grow and we want to meet those needs as the community grows. It’s not just physical assets like a freestanding ER and imaging centers; it’s also the planned/ projected addition of more than 50 physicians to our area, including primary care physicians, cardiologists, OB-GYNs, and other specialists. We’re really excited about what this will mean for the Lowcountry.”
But growing to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding community is just a part of the overall strategy that Novant Health has brought to the Lowcountry. They’ve also invested heavily in new technology, bringing new cutting-edge treatment options to the Lowcountry that simply didn’t exist before. The surgical team at Coastal Carolina added a cutting edge HYRDOS robotic system, which uses a less invasive, AI-powered Aquablation therapy with a water jet to treat enlarged prostate. The investment represents a quantum leap in prostate care. Along with the addition of two new DaVinci surgical robots at Coastal Carolina, a new “aquablation” technology, called the HYDROS Robotic System, represents a quantum leap in prostate care.
Eric Gwynn, MD (urologist) and CCH surgical team performing HYDROS/Aquablation therapy
“Patients with urology conditions used to have to travel out of state to have this procedure done,” said Adam Pegan, chief strategy officer. “Now we’re one of just six facilities in the country that can offer Aquablation therapy with the HYDROS System.”
As the CSO for the market, Pegan is taking the long view on what Novant Health will mean for our area. Like his colleagues, he is excited to be a part of the sea change this represents in Lowcountry healthcare.
“Our number one goal is to have programmatic development that keeps high-quality care local and grows with the community. That includes new access points, new technologies and new providers,” Pegan said. “But it also includes the level of partnerships we’ve built across the community, from events like the Concours d’Elegance and the RBC Heritage to organizations like Volunteers in Medicine (VIM), Memory Matters, and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).”
K. Craig Boatright, MD (orthopedic spine surgeon)
Looking at it from the 20,000-foot view, Novant Healthcare has already shown its outsized impact on our community in its first year. But what does it mean to the individual? New facilities and technologies are important, and our community thrives on the kind of generosity Novant has already shown, but how much does any of that really matter when you’re sick or injured?
“Healthcare is a customer service business, but it’s one of the few where our customers don’t want to be here,” said Christina Brzezinski, market chief nursing officer. “So, it’s incumbent on us to offer a really good experience.”
As a 10-year veteran in nursing locally, Brzezinski is already seeing how Novant Health is setting a new standard where it matters most – patient care.
Paul R. Mitchell, DO (anesthesiologist) and Carlos Montenegro, MD (general surgeon)
“The big thing I’ve seen for patients is Novant’s commitment to looking outside the hospitals. Tenet was very hospital-based, but Novant has already made community-wide healthcare a priority,” Brzezinski said. “They have really put their money where their mouth is when it comes to physician recruitment. If you talk to anyone moving to the area, their first question is, ‘Where can I find a doctor?’ Giving people more options for primary care doesn’t just help the hospital, it helps the community.”
Less than a year in, Novant Health has already elevated our community’s healthcare options beyond anyone’s expectations. As they continue to grow locally, recruiting more than 50 doctors, investing in newer technology like the Watchman heart procedure which just launched at Hilton Head Medical Center, and recommitting to the community with the addition of a full-time community engagement manager, Lowcountry residents and visitors will continue to benefit as a community and as patients.
