May 9, 2016
West Columbia, S.C. – Lexington Medical Center held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon on the hospital campus in West Columbia to celebrate a significant clinical expansion that’s about to begin. Lexington Medical Center is building a 545,000-sq-ft patient care tower that will make Lexington Medical Center the most modern, state-of-the-art hospital in South Carolina.
The 10-story tower will initially add 71 inpatient beds to the 428-bed hospital with the ability to accommodate more patients in the future. It will feature patient rooms, operating rooms, educational space for staff and community members, and enhanced dining options, as well as expand the hospital’s Labor and Delivery and Mother/Baby departments.
“Our medical staff, employees and volunteers understand and embrace the belief that Lexington Medical Center is here to serve our friends and neighbors. The hospital is woven into the fabric of Lexington County and the Midlands,” said Tod Augsburger, president & CEO of Lexington Medical Center. “This clinical expansion will allow us to take care of our community for many years to come.”
Lexington Medical Center is one of the busiest surgical hospitals in South Carolina, performing more than 19,000 surgeries last year. The clinical expansion will include eight additional operating rooms for a total of 31 operating rooms on the hospital’s main campus, and an expanded surgical recovery area. Six floors of the new tower will accommodate medical, critical care and surgical patients.
Welcoming more than 3,700 babies each year, the clinical expansion will become home to the hospital’s Labor and Delivery and Mother/Baby departments. In the Special Care Nursery, the hospital’s tiniest patients will have private rooms, which is an innovative concept in the Midlands. Research has shown that private rooms provide more bonding opportunities for mothers and their babies, lead to better outcomes for babies’ growth and lower infection rates.
Because of the growth of the hospital and its network of care, the expansion will also include Lexington Medical Center’s Pharmacy department, which provides services for the hospital’s inpatient departments, six community medical and urgent care centers, and nearly 60 physician practices in 70 locations.
A new parking garage will add more than 950 parking spaces to the hospital’s campus and a central energy plant will support the service needs of the new tower.
The expansion is expected to be complete in 2019.
Lexington Medical Center is a 607-bed teaching hospital in West Columbia, South Carolina. It anchors a health care network that includes five community medical centers and employs a staff of more than 8,000 health care professionals. The hospital is ranked best hospital in the Columbia Metro and #2 hospital in South Carolina by U.S. News & World Report and was named one of the “Best Places to Work in South Carolina” by SC Biz News, in partnership with the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and Best Companies Group. Lexington Medical Cancer Center is an accredited Cancer Center of Excellence and has a clinical research and education affiliation with MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. The network includes a cardiovascular program recognized by the American College of Cardiology as South Carolina's first HeartCARE Center. The network also has an occupational health center, the largest skilled nursing facility in the Carolinas, an Alzheimer's care center and more than 70 physician practices. Lexington Medical Center operates one of the busiest Emergency departments in South Carolina, treating nearly 100,000 patients each year. The hospital delivers more than 4,000 babies each year and performs more than 25,000 surgeries. Its postgraduate medical education programs include family medicine and transitional year residencies.
