Novant Health wants to build a 20-bed, $132 million hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, its first in the Upstate region. It also plans a 100,000-square-foot medical office building.
Novant Health submitted its Certificate of Need application for the hospital to the South Carolina Department of Public Health in February. A decision is likely as soon as this summer. The hospital could open as early as 2027, Ryan Lee, president of Novant Health’s Greenville region, told the Charleston Post & Courier.
The hospital is planned on a 12-acre property across from hospitals run by Prisma Health and Bon Secours, Greenville’s two largest healthcare providers. Novant Health purchased the site for $17 million last year.
Novant Health is the second-largest hospital operator based in North Carolina behind Advocate Health, which owns Atrium Health. The Winston-Salem-based system bought three hospitals in coastal South Carolina for $2.4 billion in early 2024.
Robust profits are fueling Novant’s growth. It reported $920 million of net income, or an excess of revenues over expenses, on operating revenues of almost $10.2 billion in 2024. The profit included $556 million in operating income and $363.5 million in investment income and other nonoperating income.
Novant Health has 19 hospitals, more than 900 locations and 40,000 employees. It is a dominant hospital operator in the Charlotte, Triad and Wilmington areas.
Greenville County faces a shortage of 111 hospital beds, according to the 2024 South Carolina Health Plan. The region is among the fastest-growing parts of South Carolina.
Prisma Health is a not-for-profit system owned by the Greenville Hospital Authority. It had $6.4 billion in revenue in its 2024 fiscal year, making it the largest South Carolina-based healthcare system.
Bon Secours Mercy Health is one of the largest U.S. Catholic-affiliated healthcare systems with about $12 billion in annual revenue. It is based in Cincinnati.