COLUMBIA, S.C. — The effort by the Medical University of South Carolina to buy three hospitals including Providence and KershawHealth is moving forward.
The South Carolina Fiscal Accountability Authority which is made up of the governor and legislative budget heads gave their approval to the purchase Tuesday morning. The proposal is for up to $80 million in debt for the purchase.
Now that their approval has been given, MUSC can move forward with going through other regulatory reviews.
Last Friday, MUSC's board announced their intention to purchase Providence Health and Providence Health Northeast in Richland County as well as KershawHealth in Camden, Those medical facilities are all owned by LifePoint Health. Included in the deal are several physician practices locations as well as an emergency room in Fairfield County.
Terry Gunn, the CEO of Providence and Kershaw Health, said last week his hospitals are "excited" to join MUSC. "Our objective is and has always been positioning our facilities for success so that we can fulfill our purpose of delivering high-quality care close to home," he said.
The purchase is expected to take months to finalize and must undergo some regulatory approval from the state and federal government. However, they hope to have the deal complete by August 1.
Providence Health was founded in 1938, and has been owned by LifePoint since 2016. KershawHealth is even older, having been created in 1913. It joined LifePoint in 2018.