The Medical University of South Carolina’s hospital system is asking legislators for $350 million for its planned new cancer hospital. (File photo by Getty Images)
The Medical University of South Carolina’s hospital system is asking legislators for $350 million for its planned new cancer hospital.
The hospital’s governing board in April approved plans for a top-tier cancer center in downtown Charleston, next to Rutledge Tower on MUSC’s campus.
At the time, MUSC Health did not say how much the hospital would cost. Now it’s turning to the General Assembly in hopes of getting taxpayer dollars to cover the bill instead of taking on debt to build it.
The ask comes as MUSC chases a Comprehensive Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute.
If approved, the center would be the first of its kind in South Carolina. Patients seeking this top level of care currently must travel out of state to centers in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
The state-owned hospital system’s cancer hospital holds a tier-two designation as a Clinical Cancer Center. The bump in rankings could mean a bump in National Cancer Institute research grant support — as much as $14 million over five years compared to the $11 million, five-year grant it holds now.
“This investment is crucial for South Carolina, as it facilitates the development of lifesaving treatments, attracts top-tier scientists and jobs, and advances innovations to reduce the state’s cancer burden and mortality rates,” the budget request reads.
The hospital system anticipates a “strong” return on the investment but did not provide further details in its application.
South Carolina is below the national rate in terms of number of cancer cases, according to National Cancer Institute data, but the state has a higher mortality rate from the deadly disease.
There are 57 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the country. MUSC would apply for its designation in 2028 and the center would open in 2030.
To reach the next level, the cancer center must increase the depth and breadth of its research and broaden its community reach.
The Legislature provided $5 million in the current budget to help pay for the designation effort. That additional $5 million will continue annually indefinitely. That’s on top of $10 million in recurring payments the state budget has provided the hospital system annually since 2022.
SC-owned hospital system set to double debt with 2 new hospitals
The existing center already boasts more than 230 researchers with a more than $50 million portfolio and more than 200 clinical trials, according to the hospital system’s budget request.
When MUSC announced the new center, hospital leadership said it would likely have 50 to 100 beds for inpatient treatment but will also house outpatient care. Services will include surgeries, stem cell transplantation, dedicated CT and MRI scanners, chemotherapy and radiation, a lab and pharmacy, as well as pain management and rehab.
In addition to the new center on the peninsula, MUSC is standing up clinics around the state.
The hospital system broke ground in September on a clinic in Summerville and it has announced plans for a similar facility in Florence. Leadership also has suggested Orangeburg as a possible clinic location.
Doctors diagnose an average of 780 people with cancer each year in Florence County, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. In Orangeburg County, that number is 519, with breast, prostate and lung cancers being the most common.
MUSC has been on an expansion spree the last several years.
In 2019, the hospital system purchased four rural community hospitals in Florence, Marion, Chester and Lancaster counties and, with the latter two, saw firsthand the growth potential in communities near the North Carolina state line.
In 2021, it again expanded with the purchase of three hospitals and a standalone emergency room in the Midlands. And in 2023, it took over operations of Orangeburg’s hospital.
MUSC Health weighing deal for control of struggling Grand Strand hospitals
A five-member state financial review panel gave the hospital system permission in April to borrow $860 million: $400 million to build a hospital in Summerville’s mega Nexton community, $330 million to build a hospital in Indian Land (the unincorporated panhandle of Lancaster County), and $130 million to finance the equipment for both.
And in September MUSC and Tidelands Health were still finalizing a deal for the state-owned system to take a controlling interest in the Grand Strand area hospitals. Financial details of that deal have yet to be made public.
All of that is on top of a planned purchase by MUSC of Roper St. Francis’ hospital on the peninsula.
The price of that deal will be decided in 2029, when Roper is scheduled to move to a new North Charleston location. In 2022, the Legislature set aside $15 million to help MUSC buy Roper’s to-be-vacated property.
