GLOBAL NONPROFIT HIRES NEW REGIONAL DIRECTOR
PAGE 21 VOLUME 28 NUMBER 8 ■ CHARLESTONBUSINESS.COM
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MAY 9-22, 2022 ■ $2.25
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Prisma Health takes services into rural hospital void
On the move
Pet food manufacturer expanding headquarters. Page 3
By Molly Hulsey
F Taste of NYC
Lauded NYC bar opening location in Charleston. Page 6
Electric innovation Consortium to train next-gen industry talent. Page 7
End of an era
Borden Dairy closing North Charleston plant. Page 11
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 Small Business Spotlight........ 4 In Focus: Life Sciences........ 13 List: Life Science Companies .......................................... 19 At Work.............................. 20 Viewpoint............................23
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Walmart associates, S.C. business leaders and elected officials gathered on April 22 to celebrate the grand opening of the Ridgeville Import Distribution Center in Dorchester County. (Photo/Provided)
Walmart distribution center ready in Ridgeland By Alexandria Ng
A
ang@scbiznews.com
s South Carolina’s economy continues to boom, Walmart has officially opened its Import Distribution Center in Dorchester County, marking the company’s seventh facility of this type in the nation. This long-awaited Ridgeville center is expected to increase local port volumes by about 5% once fully functional. Elected officials and Walmart associates gathered on the morning of April 22 to celebrate
the occasion, with leaders such as Gov. Henry McMaster and S.C. Ports President and CEO Jim Newsome in attendance. Also presenting at the event were Mike Gray, senior vice president of Walmart’s supply chain operations; Jeff Holzbauer, general manager of the Walmart Import Distribution Center; John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., who spoke via video. “Our team of more than 980 associates from Dorchester County and the surrounding comSee WALMART, Page 8
Specialty spice
Common kitchen ingredient may hold key to more efficient, safer fuel cells Page 18
mhulsey@scbiznews.com
ew physicians choose to work in South Carolina’s rural communities, and relatively few have the opportunity to do so. Out of the 90 health care facilities across the state, only 14 hospitals operate in the rural regions that make up much of South Carolina. Four of the 14 are federally certified as Critical Access Hospitals, according to the South Carolina Office of Rural Health. And the number appears to be shrinking, as more than 30% of all rural hospitals across the United States are at risk of closing in the near future, according to the Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform. Three rural hospitals have closed over the past decade in the state in Barnwell, Bamberg and Winnsboro, while 10 suffer from a negative total profit margins of up to minus-43%, according to data from the University of North Carolina’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Prisma Health Oconee Memorial Hospital’s profit margin was at negative 10.3% over the past three years, while the Medical University of South Carolina’s Lancaster Medical Center was negative43.2% during the same time period. Self Regional Healthcare’s Edgefield County Healthcare, Allendale County Hospital and Tidelands Health in Georgetown are also in the red when it comes to patient services. The Upstate’s Union Medical Center, also in the red for all profits, has lost out on 25 cents for every dollar spent at the See RURAL HEALTH , Page 16