Prisma doubling down on Urgent Care centers in SC

Prisma Health is buying 36 Urgent Care centers from Novant Health, more than doubling Prisma’s number of centers.

The acquisitions extend Greenville-headquartered Prisma — which is strong in the Upstate and Midlands — into areas of South Carolina it has not been and increase its visibility in places like the Lowcountry.

Novant is selling a majority of the Urgent Care centers it acquired less than two years ago from another health system. Novant said it is turning from Urgent Care to more virtual care. Prisma, looking at rising uninsured rates in South Carolina and more people without a primary care provider, is taking an opposite tack with more locations to provide accessibility.

Those additional locations can do that, said Clarence Sevillian, executive vice president and Chief Operating Officer for Prisma Health.

“When we think about timely care, when we think about high-quality care overall, it’s essential to the communities we serve,” he said. The move, he added, is “trying to bring care closer to the patient’s home as well.”

The expansion is creating a statewide platform for care, and “we do believe that Prisma is best positioned to do that in our state,” Sevillian said.

Novant received the Urgent Care centers when it acquired UCI Medical Affiliates from Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina in November 2024. That deal included 52 Urgent Care centers and 20 physical therapy practices.

In a statement, Novant said patient needs and preferences are evolving, so it is “transitioning away from traditional urgent care locations” while committing to access to timely care.

“One innovative way we are delivering on that commitment is expanding virtual care options to include around-the-clock, 24/7 availability and specialty care when possible,” the health system said.

Future of PT services, some care clinics uncertain

The physical therapy services that are housed at some o the Urgent Care locations were not part of the deal Prisma recently announced, spokeswoman Tammie Epps said. The fate of those services and employees is unclear.

But Novant pledged to work with patients to ensure continuity of care and to work with employees as well.

“We recognize the impact these operational changes will have on some team members and are dedicated to supporting them throughout the transition,” Novant said. “We deeply appreciate the remarkable care they’ve provided for our patients.”

Prisma said it is inheriting about 500 employees and noted in its announcement that they “bring extensive experience and a shared commitment to putting patients first.” Epps said no termination notices have been sent out to any employees.

The acquisition will also give Prisma some Urgent Care centers in the same communities. For instance, in the Charleston area, Prisma would now have two Urgent Care centers in West Ashley and two in Mount Pleasant. Prisma will be evaluating those and others over the next couple of months to determine which might be performing better. Sevillian said “some may be consolidated if they are in very close proximity to an existing location.”

Instead of an Urgent Care center, those locations may then become primary or specialty care clinics, he said. The goal is to offer impacted employees positions at a neighboring site, Epps said.

Prisma following trends in patient care choices

Prisma’s expansion and its more than doubling of Urgent Care centers from its current 31 would seem to fit some current trends. Spending by insured patients on Urgent Care services increased 50 percent from 2018 to 2022, according to the Health Care Cost Institute, with those centers serving as a “bridge” between primary care and the Emergency Room.

Urgent Care provides a lower-cost and more appropriate setting for some patients who are seeking care in the ER for more minor complaints and can help clear congestion from busy ERs, which becomes increasingly important heading into the winter months, Sevillian said.

“Sometimes there are folks that just need to have some minor thing taken care of, and this is the appropriate setting for those individuals to go,” he said.

It’s also an access point for patients who don’t have a primary care physician, a number that also is increasing. Nearly 17 percent of people in the U.S. and in South Carolina lack a primary care provider, but that is even higher among those 18-29, where 45 percent lacked one. In a study in the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, 36 percent of Gen Z and Millennials reported using an Urgent Care center compared to 19 percent for older generations.

Prisma Health tries to steer patients into using a primary care provider and believes that a long-term relationship is better for overall care, Sevillian said. But he gets that there is a desire to have care on demand.

“They want it now,” he said, laughing.

Urgent Care can also provide an access point for the uninsured, which is growing in South Carolina and across the country. The uninsured rate crept up from 9.5 percent in 2023 to 9.8 percent in 2024 in the U.S., and from 11.1 to 11.2 percent in South Carolina, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. It also varied widely in South Carolina in 2024, from 8.9 percent uninsured in McCormick County to 16.2 percent in Saluda County, according to a Post and Courier analysis of Census data. There were nearly 476,000 uninsured in the Palmetto State then.

But that was before subsidies that helped people buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act were allowed to lapse at the end of 2025, which made those policies too expensive for millions and forced them to drop coverage.

Prisma Health is already seeing a 2-percent increase in the uninsured compared to the year before, Sevillian said.

The deal with Novant closes on Nov.1, and patients and the public will start seeing changes “on Day One,” Sevillian said.

“You’ll start to see the signage and all of those things that reflect that,” he said.

Reporter Avery Beaton contributed to this report.