Charleston’s MUSC Hollings Cancer Center announced this week that it is moving one step closer to transforming cancer care across South Carolina, building on its status as the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center and its recent recognition as the top-ranked hospital in South Carolina for cancer care.
The Hollings program has spent 2026 expanding beyond its Charleston peninsula footprint, with a new Hollings facility breaking ground earlier this summer at MUSC’s Florence medical center to bring the center’s multidisciplinary clinical model deeper into the Pee Dee. The Florence groundbreaking, combined with this week’s step forward, is aimed at shortening the drive many South Carolina cancer patients still make to reach clinical trials and advanced treatment options that today are concentrated in Charleston.
MUSC Hollings holds the only NCI designation in the state, a federal recognition reserved for cancer centers that combine research, patient care and community-facing prevention programs under one program. It was ranked the top hospital in South Carolina for cancer care in the 2026-2027 national hospital ratings, and it was named High Performing for Cancer Care in the same round — recognitions that Hollings leadership has said are meant to be paired with a broader reach into rural counties, not just the Charleston area.
The push comes as the Lowcountry’s oncology patient base continues to grow, driven both by population growth in the tri-county area and by referrals from smaller South Carolina hospitals that route complex cases to Charleston for treatment. Hollings leaders have said the goal is to reduce the number of patients who leave the state for care, keeping treatment decisions, follow-up appointments and family support networks closer to home.
For patients already in treatment on the peninsula, this week’s announcement does not change day-to-day scheduling, but it signals continued investment in the same downtown Charleston campus that houses the center’s clinical trials, infusion services and multidisciplinary tumor boards.
For families across the rest of South Carolina, the move is one more step in an effort Hollings has been building toward for several years: to make NCI-designated cancer care something residents of the state can reach without leaving it.
