CaroMont Health Announces Plans for Hospital in York County, SC
YORK COUNTY, S.C. – CaroMont Health today announced plans to build a hospital in the Lake Wylie community of York County, South Carolina, bringing emergency and inpatient care to a fast-growing area where the health system has served patients for more than 20 years. The organization has purchased land on Highway 557 for the future facility.
CaroMont Health currently provides care in York County through practices in seven specialties: cardiology, endocrinology, family medicine/primary care, neurology, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and urgent care. The planned hospital would give those patients, and thousands of their neighbors, access to hospital-level care in the area where they live and work. It would primarily serve residents of Lake Wylie, Clover, western York County and southern Gaston County.
“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 at 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. We want to build a facility that fits the needs of our patients and offers more access to our broader network of care.”
The neighborhood hospital concept is built around a simple idea: deliver the care patients need most, in the community where they live. Most emergency visits and hospital stays do not require intensive care or highly complex services. The planned hospital would be designed for that everyday reality, with an emergency department staffed by board-certified emergency physicians, short-stay inpatient and observation care units, surgical and endoscopy services, and full-service imaging and laboratory departments. Patients who need higher-acuity services would have a clear path to CaroMont Regional Medical Center and the broader CaroMont Health network.
The York County project is the second neighborhood hospital CaroMont Health has announced. In June, the organization filed a Certificate of Need (CON) application with the State of North Carolina to build a similar facility in Cleveland County, NC. The two projects are on different timelines and follow different regulatory paths, but they reflect a single strategy: placing hospital care in communities with clear need and established relationships with the health system.
“These two hospitals tell one story about how we grow,” said Peek. “We go where people need care and where patients trust us. In Cleveland County, the state quantified the need for more hospital beds. 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. Different communities and different paths, but the same promise: a hospital designed around the needs of our patients.”
CaroMont Health will pursue all required state and local approvals, and construction will begin only after those requirements are met. The organization will use the coming months for planning and continued engagement with community leaders, elected officials and residents. The projected opening is 2031.
“We are not arriving in York County. We have been here, and we intend to be here for decades to come,” added Peek. “As an independent health system, we make long-term commitments to the communities we serve.”
CaroMont Health will share additional details, including facility design and services, as planning progresses.