“In that Berkeley and Dorchester County area, you are seeing more younger families, and so that’s the reason that you’ve got to have so many services,” he said, even if the Charleston and Lowcountry area overall might be aging.
It’s one reason MUSC Health is putting not only cancer care but a large multi-specialty clinic on the Nexton campus, Hong said.
So rather than “asking someone to go downtown, travel a fair bit, park, etc., take time off from work to see a sub-specialist, we would like to deliver subspecialty care where people live and work and play,” he said. “Our own internal research shows that there’s a need for improved access to primary care and specialty care in that area.”
That’s why Novant is creating a medical campus in the Nexton area and starting work right away on medical clinics, said Kirsten Royster, President of Novant Health Charleston area. The health system looked at population growth but also traffic patterns and road infrastructure in deciding where to position its services, she said.
“The Summerville and Nexton areas are some of the fastest-growing in the Charleston region, and access to primary care, emergency care and specialists becomes increasingly important as communities grow,” Royster said. But while the company submitted detailed plans to the state for the approval of a hospital, the first phase will be the clinics and future plans are not finalized. The site was chosen to be able to accommodate a future free-standing Emergency Department or a hospital, the health system said.
The MUSC Health Nexton Medical Pavilion will be an 80,000-square-foot multi-specialty medical office building.
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The approach HCA Healthcare Charleston is taking — and it is true industry-wide — is patients want access to health care close by, and they need to be able to have that, said President Jeff Wilson.
“We believe, and MUSC believes this, Roper believes this, Novant believes, we believe that ready access to high-quality health care is important to overall community health,” he said. “Our strategy is, we ultimately want to be within five miles of where the majority of the Charleston population lives, works, and plays. That’s why we look at developing access points, whether that’s a hospital, whether that’s a free-standing emergency department, or an urgent care location.”