CLINICAL

MUSC Medical Center (rev. date: 09/09)

The MUSC Medical Center currently has 689 licensed beds in five inpatient facilities—Medical University Hospital (MUH), Ashley River Tower, MUSC Children's Hospital, Storm Eye Institute, and the Institute of Psychiatry. For the 10th consecutive year, MUSC was selected for the National Research Corporation’s Consumer Choice Award in 2007-08. The Children’s Hospital ranks in the top 30 nationally for overall pediatric care and in the top 9 for pediatric emergency services in Child magazine’s biannual survey (Feb. 2007). In addition, the National Association of Children’s Hospitals has recognized MUSC’s Medically Fragile Children’s Program as a national model. The Storm Eye Institute is the only comprehensive eye center in South Carolina. The Institute of Psychiatry includes a 6-story building housing a number of behavioral and clinical programs connected to a 105-bed psychiatric hospital with special facilities for children, adolescents, elderly and individuals with addictive disorders. The new Ashley River Tower includes specialized care centers such as the Heart and Vascular Center and the Digestive Disease Center.  The Medical Center has a comprehensive range of specialized care centers, such as the Hollings Cancer Center, Transplant Center, Center for Alcohol and Drug Programs, and a Level I Trauma Center. In FY2006 the American Society for Bariatric Surgery named MUSC a Center of Excellence, and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients ranked the Cardiac Transplant Program 1st in the Southeast and 2nd in the nation in one-year survival rates. In February 2008 MUSC began occupying the first phase of a major project to replace the Medical University Hospital, which opened in 1955. The Ashley River Tower is a structure of approximately 641,000 ft2, providing state-of-the-art surgical, medical and diagnostic facilities with 156 additional licensed beds. It supports the clinical programs of the Cardiology/Cardiovascular Surgery Services and the Digestive Disease Center. Phase 1 includes a new central energy plant as well as significant infrastructure and roadway improvements. Special features in the new facility include  dedicated spaces for academic and other clinical care teams and an enhanced automated records system. For Phase II, an innovative partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the local Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center is being explored at the local and national levels (‘the Charleston Model’). Ultimately, the entire replacement hospital will occupy approximately one million ft2 and cost about a billion dollars. Medical Center data for the year ending June 30, 2009 include:

Number of Licensed Beds
709
plus 50 Neonatal Special Care
Average Daily Census Rate
532
 
Annual Admissions
33,704
 
Number of Births
2,623
 
Number of Outpatient Visits
963,967
 
Number of Inpatient Surgical Procedures
15,656
 
Number of Outpatient Surgical Procedures
9,212
 
   

         

 

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