This Myrtle Beach area hospital looks to expand to meet hospital bed need
Grand Strand Health plans to expand two of its Myrtle Beach facilities as the state’s health department has zeroed in on Horry County’s need for more hospital beds.
Grand Strand Medical Center and South Strand Medical Center will both undergo substantial expansion and renovation, pending approval from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, according to a Grand Strand Health. news release.
Expected to result in more than $215 million in capital investment, the expansions are poised to add 111 acute care beds to the existing medical centers in order to ease the demand for more hospital beds in the county. In a report from earlier this year, DHEC identified a need for 155 more hospital beds in Horry County by 2024.
The Grand Strand Medical Center expansion is budgeted at $67.5 million while the South Strand Medical Center project is expected to cost $146.2 million, according to Grand Strand Health spokesperson Katie Maclay.
Grand Strand Medical Center, located at 809 82nd Pkwy in Myrtle Beach, will include an inpatient “bed tower,” if the state approves the company’s certificate of need. The South Strand Medical Center, located at 5050 Hwy. 17 Bypass S. in Myrtle Beach, will become a full-service hospital instead of an emergency room with limited outpatient and inpatient services.
“Grand Strand Medical Center continues to experience significant growth in our inpatient services despite previous bed additions,” Grand Strand Health Chief Operating Officer Marsha Myers said in the release. “Placing a small number of beds at South Strand Medical Center will provide the needed capacity while improving the access to inpatient care within the county.”
Once DHEC approves the certificates, construction is expected to be completed in about three years for the Grand Strand center, and just under five years for the South Strand center, Maclay said.
Grand Strand Health recently broke ground on a $10 million project in Carolina Forest. The emergency room is scheduled to be open summer 2021.
Grand Strand Health’s expansion comes as other healthcare companies in the area are looking to do the same. In September, Tidelands Health, McLeod Health and Conway Medical Center all announced plans to construct new medical centers in the area in response to Horry County’s need for an increase in hospital beds.
