A rendering of the University of South Carolina's new $30 million brain health center in downtown Columbia. (Photo courtesy of USC)
COLUMBIA — The University of South Carolina selected Prisma Health to help run the school’s new $30 million brain health clinic in downtown Columbia.
Only Prisma entered a bid for the five-year operating contract for a portion of the center, scheduled to open in April. No other companies applied, according to documents from the state’s procurement agency.
The state’s largest hospital system will keep any revenue it earns from the clinic. In exchange, it will pay upwards of $825,000 in rent annually to USC.
The clinic will boast the most powerful MRI scanner in the state. Also at the center, those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s will have the option to undergo treatment with recently approved drugs meant to slow the disease’s progression.
Neurologists and radiologists with the necessary training to diagnose the most complicated cases of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia will work out of the clinic, Julius Fridriksson, USC’s vice president for research previously told the SC Daily Gazette.
Prisma is already USC’s partner when it comes to brain health.
USC renovated a 75,000-square-foot building the school owns on the Prisma Health Richland Hospital campus to serve as the main hub in a network of seven clinics already set up across the state. While awaiting the new center’s completion, USC medical school doctors have been booking appointments four days a week in university-leased space within the neurology department of the hospital, Fridriksson said previously.
Prisma also was the partner in the first of those satellite clinics, founded in an effort to increase access to brain-related disease research and cutting-edge treatments in rural areas. The clinic, located in Winnsboro, opened two years ago.
Prisma-based locations in Sumter, Seneca and Columbia followed the Winnsboro clinic.
Plus, Lexington Health is USC’s partner for a clinic in West Columbia. HopeHealth is the partner for clinics in Orangeburg and Darlington.
Since opening the clinic network has seen more than 2,000 patients, and the demand keeps increasing.
USC runs the network with $5 million in taxpayer dollars annually. The college is seeking an additional $1.5 annually in the upcoming budget package to add more rural clinics. The school has yet to determine the locations of those additional clinics, USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said.
The main brain health clinic is located a half mile from the site of USC’s new $300 million School of Medicine campus, set for completion in 2027, and a $350 million neurological hospital and rehabilitation center planned for downtown Columbia’s BullStreet District.
The Legislature provided $150 million this year toward the specialized hospital for neurological diseases. USC is seeking an additional $25.5 million annually to cover hospital operations.
Prior state budgets collectively provided about $200 million toward building the new medical school. Now, USC is asking legislators to set aside an additional $90 million so it can add a new pharmacy school to the medical campus as well.
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to reflect the terms of the deal between Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina.
