Wellstar Columbia County Medical Center in Grovetown, Columbia County's first hospital, opens Wednesday, after years of starts, stops, and legal wrangling.
"When looking at the number of people committed to making this happen, it can be best described as a marathon relay race, as numerous people and teams involved passed the baton for those who followed them to complete the task," Augusta University President Russell Keen said at the hospital's Aug. 4 ceremonial ribbon-cutting.
Here are some of the development milestones that local stakeholders achieved along the way:
2014
Three Augusta hospitals – Doctors Hospital, University Hospital and Augusta University Medical Center – each applied
for a certificate of need, the official licensure required to build a hospital in Georgia. Only one, AUMC, received the license.
2020
Doctors Hospital appealed the granted license and fought all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court to halt further progress. The court remanded the case back to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which rejected Doctors' lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Community Health, the agency that granted the license.
2023
Wellstar Health System merged with AUMC, the hospital for the Medical College of Georgia. One aspect of the merger was Wellstar's commitment to investing $800 million in the AU Health System it took over, which included capital to help fund a Columbia County hospital.
2025
Wellstar named retired U.S. Army Col. Nelson So as Wellstar CCMC's first administrator. From August 2023 to September 2024, So was deputy commander for administration at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center. He and his family stayed in the Augusta area after his recent military retirement.
2026
Local and state government and healthcare officials cut the ribbon Aug. 4 on the 100-bed hospital ahead of the actual opening. Nearby Lincoln, Wilkes, Warren, Taliaferro and Glascock counties are among Georgia's remaining 53 counties without hospitals. That means Wellstar CCMC's use of digital health technology and telemedicine can shorten the distance and time for patients in those outlying counties to receive life-saving treatment.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Columbia County's first hospital spent years in planning, development
