Roger Sipe, senior VP of operations for Lexington Medical Center, addressed the 110 attendees of the Cayce-West Columbia Chamber Breakfast on the LMC – West Columbia campus, Tuesday.

He updated the crowd on some LMC projects, and Sipe chronicled the growth of the hospital over the last 50-plus years.

He said a new Cayce Urgent Care facility on Knox-Abbott Drive is scheduled to open in December of 2023. Sipe also said the Graduate Medical Education center for nurses on Sunset Court is expected to be complete by June of this year. The second Graduate Medical Education building, for primary care physicians, is expected to be complete by May 2024.

The total economic impact of Lexington Medical Center on Lexington County is approximately $863 million, and $1.6 billion for the Midlands. LMC accounts for 1 in 6 health care jobs in the Midlands.

In 2022, 37,824 patients were admitted to LMC. There were 92,358 ER visits and 151,832 urgent care visits.
There were 4,167 births at LMC in 2022, more than 1.4 million physician visits, and 31, 945 surgeries.
The hospital has grown from 125 beds in 1971 to 607 beds in 2023, according to a graphic. The square footage of LMC has increased from 108,500 to more than 4.4 million-sq-feet now.

The LMC campus that sat on 22 acres in 1971 has expanded to 409 acres. In 1971, LMC had 250 employees. Now it has 8,200.