CaroMont Health announced Sept. 16 that it has bought land on S.C. Highway 557 in Lake Wylie and plans to build a hospital there, with a projected opening in 2031.
The hospital would be the Gastonia, N.C., health system’s first in South Carolina. CaroMont said in its announcement that the facility would primarily serve residents of Lake Wylie, Clover, western York County and southern Gaston County, putting an emergency department and inpatient beds closer to families who now leave the area for hospital care.
“For more than two decades, families in York County have trusted our physicians for primary and urgent care and advanced specialties like cardiology and neurology,” said Chris Peek, president and chief executive officer of CaroMont Health. “CaroMont Health has paced our service expansion with the growth of that community, and adding emergency and hospital care is a natural next step.”
What The Hospital Would Offer
CaroMont describes the project as a neighborhood hospital, a smaller facility built around the emergency visits and short hospital stays that make up most of a community’s needs. The company said most emergency visits and hospital stays do not require intensive care or highly complex services.
Plans call for an emergency department staffed by board certified emergency physicians, short stay inpatient and observation units, surgical and endoscopy services, and full imaging and laboratory departments. Patients who need more complex care would be sent to CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia or elsewhere in the CaroMont network.
The health system already has a presence in York County through practices in seven specialties: cardiology, endocrinology, family medicine and primary care, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and urgent care.
Land Near Oakridge Middle School
CaroMont bought about 43 acres on Highway 557 on Aug. 31, according to Business North Carolina, which reported the property sits near Oakridge Middle School and a Lowe’s Home Improvement store.
Peek pointed to the corridor itself as evidence of demand. “In York County, you can see the need in the growth along Highway 557 and in the families who drive past our practices every day but leave the area for hospital care,” he said.
Certificate Of Need Repeal
The announcement comes as South Carolina nears the end of its Certificate of Need program for hospitals. For decades, the state required providers to get approval before building a hospital or adding beds, and competing providers could challenge those applications. Gov. Henry McMaster signed legislation in 2023 that eliminated the requirement for most health care facilities. Hospitals in counties that already have one must still obtain a certificate until Jan. 1, 2027, when that requirement ends.
Republican state Sen. Wes Climer of Rock Hill, who led the repeal effort in the Senate, credited the change for CaroMont’s plans in a Facebook post after the announcement.
“For years, South Carolina’s Certificate of Need law protected hospital monopolies from competition, and patients paid the price through higher costs, fewer choices and limited access,” Climer wrote.
Climer said the repeal took three years to pass over opposition from hospital systems and other established interests. He said providers are now preparing to invest in communities that need them.
“That competition means more choices, better access and downward pressure on healthcare costs,” he wrote.
“We are not arriving in York County. We have been here, and we intend to be here for decades to come,” Peek said. “As an independent health system, we make long term commitments to the communities we serve.”
CaroMont said it will spend the coming months on planning and on meetings with community leaders, elected officials and residents before releasing more details about the Lake Wylie hospital.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
