Construction to Begin January 2025 on New Bluffton Medical Campus

Beaufort Memorial is continuing its commitment to expanding quality health care in the Lowcountry with the construction of a medical office building in Bluffton, with work scheduled to start in January.

The project has seen its fair share of challenges, but with construction on the facility beginning in just a few months, Beaufort Memorial is taking strategic, community-focused steps to expand access to innovative, compassionate, high-quality care in the Lowcountry.

The New Bluffton Community Medical Campus

The multi-level medical office building planned for the corner of Buckwalter and Bluffton parkways, the Beaufort Memorial Bluffton Community Medical Campus (BCMC) will be a huge step by Beaufort Memorial toward improving the accessibility of health care in southern Beaufort and Jasper counties, offering patients an opportunity to receive quality care even closer to home.

The project will include a freestanding emergency department and an ambulatory surgery center.

“This project is a great example of Beaufort Memorial’s mission to identify community needs and take meaningful strides to offer the best patient care possible,” said Russell Baxley, Beaufort Memorial president and CEO. “The Bluffton area, and the Lowcountry as a region, is growing quickly, and its residents deserve innovative health care solutions and improved accessibility to these services. We are proud to say we’re moving forward and will continue to expand access to that high quality of care.”

The BCMC will allow Beaufort Memorial to provide emergency services and outpatient surgical procedures, as well as related services that support emergency medical care (imaging, lab, pathology, trauma).

Complete with four operating rooms, two endoscopy rooms, a cath lab and a bay fitting three ambulances, the emergency room will accept walk-in patients as well as ambulance delivery.

It’s no secret that the plans for this project have shifted somewhat; in 2018, following the state’s approval of the organization’s certificate of need (CON), Beaufort Memorial announced plans to open the state’s first “micro-hospital” in Bluffton with construction to be completed in 2022.

The CON process is administered by the South Carolina Department of Public Health (formerly the Department of Health and Environmental Control), and up until May of 2023 required most health care facilities to be approved prior to construction. Now, only hospitals with inpatient overnight stays must go through the CON process.

A micro-hospital is an acute care hospital that meets all federal and state licensing and regulatory requirements. They focus on treating low-acuity patients with a higher level of service, providing ambulatory and emergency services while leaving more complex surgeries and service lines for their associated full-service hospitals.

After six years of battling opposition to the project in court, Beaufort Memorial withdrew its CON earlier this month, shifting the plan from establishing a “micro-hospital” to a medical office building with a freestanding emergency department and ambulatory surgery center. The site will also allow opportunities for future expansion.

An Ongoing Battle

Not long after the CON was approved in the summer of 2018, the project hit its first snag. The micro-hospital had to be moved from the original location at Okatie Crossing due to wetlands issues.

The 70,000-square-foot Okatie Medical Pavilion’s construction on the site, however, moved forward and was completed in 2020.

The micro-hospital plan relocated to the intersection of Buckwalter and Bluffton parkways.

Since 2018, Beaufort Memorial has been battling ongoing appeals to overturn the state’s approval of the CON, one opponent was the two hospitals (in Hilton Head and Hardeeville) formerly owned by Tenet Health and the other opponent was Candler Hospital in Savannah.

In May 2023, Gov. Henry McMaster signed legislation repealing a portion of the health care certification mandate, with facilities accommodating overnight inpatient stays to sunset in 2027. Last September, Candler dropped its case against the planned Bluffton facility due to the upcoming changes. North Carolina-based health care giant Novant Health – which purchased the two Tenet hospitals in early February of 2024 – has refused Beaufort Memorial’s request that it drop its opposition to the micro-hospital.

On Sept. 10, Beaufort Memorial, committed to ending delays and proceeding with meaningful steps toward improved access to care, withdrew its CON for the micro-hospital, shifting the plan to instead construct the medical office building.

“We have always sought to meet the current and future health care needs of our community,” said Baxley. “After years of pursuing the micro-hospital, dealing with endless legal roadblocks from competition and disappointment in not seeing all the appeals dropped when the state decided to sunset the CON requirement, we knew it was time to act. The project and services we’re moving forward with will help to meet an ever-growing need for care in the area.”

 

Moving Forward Boldly

Beaufort Memorial has a rich history of identifying community needs and responding to them strategically, with smart growth and a passion for its patients. Beaufort Memorial’s pandemic response brought quick, efficient testing to residents in the Bluffton area, and that same efficiency characterized its vaccination distribution. In the wake of Hurricane Florence in 2018, Beaufort Memorial saw the widespread need among Lowcountry residents for virtual medicine and became a pioneer in telehealth for the region, even offering free visits while residents dealt with the storm’s impacts.

Whether it’s physically breaking ground on the BCMC or otherwise continuing the mindful expansion of its innovative, compassionate services to the growing needs of the Lowcountry, Beaufort Memorial remains a leader in bringing high-quality care to the region.

Construction on the medical office building at Buckwalter and Bluffton parkways will begin in January 2025. Withdrawing the CON has allowed Beaufort Memorial to sidestep any additional project delays related to the CON legal battle and proceed with onsite work that brings the growing Bluffton area innovative care right in their backyard.

In the coming months, residents will see site preparations begin at the Bluffton location.

Bluffton is also the location for a collaborative effort between the town, Beaufort County and Beaufort Memorial: Livewell Terrace Apartments by BMH. This exciting venture aimed at providing local workers with more options for living accommodations will create 125 to 150 affordable housing units. Located less than a mile from the BCMC, the project will also include approximately 5,000 square feet of medical office space where additional Beaufort Memorial services will be offered.

The workforce housing project is currently approved for housing tax credits through the state program, initial site planning is complete, and the project is moving into the permitting stage.

“Beaufort Memorial has teamed up with community partners to find creative solutions not just to improve affordable housing options, but for the further expansion of medical services in the Bluffton area,” Baxley said.

In July, Beaufort Memorial closed on land in the May River Crossing neighborhood center where it plans to build another medical office specifically dedicated to expanding primary care in the Bluffton area.

Southern Beaufort County is seeing rapid population growth, and with that growth comes a need for comprehensive, innovative health care that can grow with the region. Beaufort Memorial’s dedication to improving primary and specialty care access throughout Beaufort and Jasper counties is illustrated in its long list of projects pushing expansion and accessibility to the forefront.

See below for a timeline on Beaufort Memorial’s expansion of facilities and services in the Bluffton area.

Timeline for Care Expansion in The Bluffton Area

Beaufort County is booming, and over the last few decades, Bluffton has seen an exponential increase in its population – and the number of residents seeking the quality care provided by Beaufort Memorial.

Since 2006, Beaufort Memorial has been showing its commitment to Bluffton patients, expanding their access to care as the population has grown.

2006 

• Beaufort Memorial opens Bluffton Medical Services, its first office in southern Beaufort County.

2009 

• Bluffton Medical Services triples in size to accommodate more physicians, a rehab center, digital mammography and other services.

2011 

• Bluffton Medical Services grows by another 4,000 square feet.

2012 

• Beaufort Memorial purchases 20 acres for the Okatie Medical Pavilion.

2018 

• January – Beaufort Memorial announces its plan to open a micro-hospital in Bluffton.
• July – Beaufort Memorial’s certificate of need (CON) for a micro-hospital in Bluffton (to be located near the intersection of Fording Island Road and Okatie Highway) is approved by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (now the South Carolina Department of Public Health). 
  Wetlands issues cause the micro-hospital’s location to change from Okatie Crossing to the corner of Buckwalter and Bluffton parkways.
• September – BMH Care Anywhere telehealth app launches, allowing patients to connect 24/7 with a board-certified provider about minor illnesses and health concerns using their smartphone, tablet or computer.
  Walk-In Care kiosks are introduced at several Beaufort and Jasper County Publix locations – including the Publix at 101 Buckwalter Place Boulevard in Bluffton.
• October – Several health care organizations opposing Beaufort Memorial’s micro-hospital project appeal DHEC’s decision to approve the project’s CON, delaying the plan for six years in administrative law court.

2019 

• Beaufort Memorial breaks ground on the Okatie Medical Pavilion.

2020 

• Okatie Medical Pavilion opens on Nov. 7, 2020.

2023

• Gov. Henry McMaster signs bill S. 164 – a certificate of need repeal – eliminating the requirement for most health care facilities to acquire a CON from the state before building a new facility or providing additional medical services. Additional requirements will sunset in 2027. Due to the new legislation, one of Beaufort Memorial’s opposing parties dropped its case against the project. The other did not.

2024 

• May – Beaufort Memorial, in partnership with Beaufort County and the Town of Bluffton, announces its plan to address the need for affordable workforce housing and medical office space with Livewell Terrace Apartments by BMH.
• July – Beaufort Memorial closes on property within the May River Crossing neighborhood center at the intersection of Okatie Highway and May River Road. Plans were submitted to the Town for a 5,000 square foot medical office.
• September – Beaufort Memorial withdraws its CON from the state, adjusting the Bluffton project to instead be a medical office building with a freestanding emergency department, an ambulatory surgery center and opportunities for future expansion.

2025 

• January – Beaufort Memorial will break ground on the medical office building, kicking off a huge step forward in advancing health care accessibility to patients in southern Beaufort and Jasper counties and the Lowcountry as a whole.