SC finalizes 'transformation plan' to help rural hospitals

Lake City Community Hospital and a dozen more rural hospitals in South Carolina that are struggling to stay open may soon forge partnerships with healthier facilities to ensure their survival. Butch McCutcheon, Lake City Community Hospital's chief executive, said McLeod Health and the Carolinas Hospital System, both about 25 miles north of Lake City in Florence, have expressed interest in running the hospital or hiring its physicians. "We're not planning on closing, but we are looking at different models," McCutcheon said Thursday. "It's all just in the discussion process. It's all been going on for six months."