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The Medical University of South Carolina has acquired Palmetto Primary Care Physicians for $111 million.
The Medical University Hospital Authority (MUHA) Board of Trustees on Monday voted unanimously to purchase all membership interests in Palmetto Primary Care Physicians, effective March 3.
PPCP will become a not-for-profit entity within MUSC Health, a system of 16 hospitals.
PPCP is South Carolina's largest independent multispecialty care practice, according to MUSC. It includes 31 physicians, 95 advanced practitioners and 40 medical practices, including physical therapy, urgent care and other specialty clinics across the Lowcountry, Midlands and Myrtle Beach.
The combined organization will expand MUSC's primary care capacity.
"South Carolina faces a significant shortage of primary care physicians, and strengthening access to high‑quality, community‑based primary care is essential to MUSC Health's mission," said Dr. Patrick J. Cawley, CEO, MUSC Health and executive vice president for Health Affairs, University. "We have worked closely for years with PPCP's outstanding providers, and their proven value‑based care model makes them an ideal partner. Together, we will expand access, improve outcomes, support the next generation of clinicians through enhanced training opportunities and grow research and innovation."
"This transaction ensures long‑term stability for our physicians, specialists and staff while allowing us to expand the services our communities rely on," said Dr. Mark Redwine, president of the PPCP board. "Joining MUSC Health provides the scale, infrastructure and academic partnership needed to expand access and deliver even stronger value‑based care. We are very excited about this partnership and believe it will greatly benefit our patients and enhance our care delivery system."
MUSC has an annual operating budget of $8.9 billion. The MUSC Health system consists of 16 hospitals across South Carolina. As the clinical enterprise of the Medical University of South Carolina, the network has nearly 35,000 faculty members, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, contract employees, affiliates and care team members.
In February, MUSC Health was among four health systems that announced it was deploying AI to control spending. MUSC Health joined OSF HealthCare, Kettering Health and MemorialCare in using a contract intelligence platform by SpendRule to help prevent overpayments on purchased services by validating invoices against contract terms. SpendRule estimated this is over a $323 billion spend category.
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org