MUSC completes takeover of Midlands hospitals

COLUMBIA (AP) - The Medical University of South Carolina on Monday completed its purchase of several hospitals and an emergency room in the Midlands.

To celebrate the acquisition, MUSC changed the names of the four facilities, and leaders traveled to the two Providence Health hospitals in Columbia, the KershawHealth hospital in Camden and a freestanding emergency room in Fairfield County to meet employees and give speeches.

MUSC bought the facilities from LifePoint Health, a for-profit company based in Tennessee. The state's largest hospital system, Prisma Health, tried to buy them but got an unfavorable court ruling and pushback from lawmakers on whether they would control too much of South Carolina's health care system.

The expansion allows MUSC to add more than 400 new hospital beds to its 1,600-bed system.

MUSC has previously announced plans to buy hospitals in Chester, Florence, Lancaster and Mullins. It is also working to build new hospitals in rural Williamsburg County, Lancaster County and Berkeley County.