MUSC-RMC partnership: ‘Opportunity of a lifetime’; officials celebrate hospital lease

A new era has begun at the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties.

RMC and the Medical University Hospital Authority on Friday celebrated the finalization of a long-term lease and operations agreement.

“I have the distinct honor and pleasure to announce that RMC is now officially a part of the MUSC Health system,” RMC Board Chair Dr. Lucius Craig said to a round of applause and a standing ovation at a ceremony marking the partnership.

“This affiliation will improve access to care for residents in this area, enhance local health care services and improve access to more complex care throughout the MUSC Health system. This is a win-win for this community and also for MUSC,” he said.

MUSC took over the operations of RMC on Wednesday under a 99-year lease that gives the Charleston hospital system control of the Orangeburg hospital, the freestanding Bamberg-Barnwell Emergency Medical Center and affiliated physician practice locations in The T&D Region.

A ceremony was held Friday morning at RMC’s Orangeburg facility.

Craig said, “We all had one goal and that was to provide access to comprehensive quality care to our community now and into the future.”

During Friday’s ceremony, MUSC Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. James Lemon said he was born and raised in Barnwell.

“This area is very close to my heart,” Lemon said. “I have been treated in this hospital. For many of you today, this is a momentous occasion for those of us who have lived here and live here now.”

Lemon says MUSC embraces a “higher purpose” and that is to “assist and in South Carolina to deliver outstanding health care, educate future health care providers and to research. We must help to increase and improve the health and wellness of our entire state.”

“MUSC has made incredible progress on some of the most challenging and transformative forces affecting modern health care,” Lemon said. “I am so pleased that Barnwell and all the communities touched by this new partnership will reap the benefits of these talented and dedicated teams coming together.”

Orangeburg resident and MUSC Board member Barbara Johnson-Williams said, “This community deserves respect, compassion, collaboration, integrity and innovation.

“At its core, these values are what drive MUSC forward in making necessary advances, changes and improvements in local care delivery.”

“I am thrilled that as we develop this new relationship, our community is going to have health care as it so richly deserves right here in our backyard,” Johnson-Williams continued.

Signs inside and outside the hospital have already changed to reflect its new name: MUSC Health Orangeburg. Hospital officials say the name could change to also include Calhoun County.

MUSC Health says it’s hiring active employees in good standing at compensation levels generally consistent with current rates and fair market value, according to an MUSC press release.

MUSC also notes that its team members are meeting with the administrators at each of the facilities to determine staffing and needs, “with the intent to make operations as efficient and successful as possible, maximizing value to patients, families and their respective communities.”

RMC employees are now MUSC Health/Medical University of South Carolina employees.

MUSC Health will oversee RMC’s finances. The RMC board will be responsible for quality oversight, medical staff accreditation and community engagement.

MUSC President Dr. David Cole said MUSC’s job is to provide quality health care and educate future health care providers.

“Our job is to change the future in health care,” Cole said. “That is why we have research. That is why we embrace innovation. That is why who we are.”

“The best care is local,” Cole continued. “Together we will be able to make this a reality for this community, this area, this region for decades to come.

“We know that access to health care is a problem, but together we will be able to put patients at the center of what we do and those we serve and enable the right decision to be made.”

The partnership is the result of a budget proviso passed by the S.C. General Assembly last year that allowed MUSC, within its own budget, to enter into a partnership with RMC.

The proviso was spearheaded by Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg.

Cobb-Hunter received several standing ovations for her leadership in the matter during Friday’s ceremony.

She gave a shout-out to Chief of Governmental Affairs and Senior Advisor to the MUSC Board of Trustees Mark Sweatman and Sarah Hearn of MUSC Governmental Affairs for helping with the proviso.

“Do y’all know that less than 10 months ago, this proviso was inserted into the state budget suggesting to MUSC that they create this partnership and, Lord, here we are less than a year later,” Cobb-Hunter said.

She noted the, “potential for this partnership is limited only by the vision of the leadership.”

“There are so many opportunities here,” Cobb-Hunter said. “Your footprint here in Orangeburg County will allow you, if you choose to do it, to address the concerns in rural South Carolina and access to care. It is the opportunity of a lifetime and I am so grateful to be a part of it.”

Rep. Russell Ott, D-St. Matthews, described the event as truly historic, and a boon for the local economy and for the future employee pipeline to the hospital.

Rural hospitals are closing down across the country and have left people wondering what to do in the event of an emergency, he said.

“People around here are not going to have to answer that in the next 99 years because MUSC Health Orangeburg and Calhoun County are going to be here,” he said.

Sen. Vernon Stephens, D-Bowman, touted the importance of rural health care and how the RMC and MUSC partnership will fill that need.

“I believe, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the image of the Regional Medical Center has changed already,” he said. “When the sign went up, the image changed.”

“It is our day to be excited about living in rural South Carolina for truly we can say ‘As I breathe, I hope,’ and we have a lot to hope for,” he said.