2023 Annual Report

Values guide efforts to accomplish mission and vision

Our values serve to shape and define the day-to-day actions of our staff and the practices of our organization. They are at the foundation of efforts to accomplish our mission, to provide exceptional and compassionate care to all we serve, and our vision, to work together for better health and a better life.

Accountable | We commit to being exceptional and exceeding expectations.

Integrity | We do the right thing–no matter what.

Collaborative | We are better together as one team.

Compassionate | We foster a positive and caring environment for all.

Innovative | We improve what we do and how we do it.

“We hold ourselves accountable for providing exceptional health care to all, and we’re blessed to have earned profound trust. We don’t take it lightly.”

William Kenley, CEO

About this report

Click on the values listed below to learn about how they guided and defined our not-for-profit health care organization in 2023. Our system grew and improved over the course of the year, and the efforts of our dedicated staff have set us up to continue.

View AnMed's values in action by downloading a snapshot of key figures.

Better starts here.

Accountable
With growing capabilities and expanding access, we embrace accountability
- 172,772: Population within a 10-mile radius of the new AnMed Piedmont campus under construction
- $79.5 million: Capital investments made for projects that span the system
- 887,500: Square footage of AnMed Medical Center, the largest hospital in South Carolina to earn Energy Star recognition from the EPA
It’s not merely a matter of acceptance. It’s an embrace.
From the emergency department to the Cancer Center and beyond, to our patients, their loved ones and the community at large, AnMed is accountable. We consider caring for the health of Upstate South Carolina and northeast Georgia to be our duty.
We bear the responsibility proudly and endeavor to exceed expectations in our service – every time.
We commit to being exceptional.
We pledge to be the partner you need.
“We don’t turn people away,” said William Kenley, AnMed’s CEO. “We serve one and all, no matter the circumstances. We hold ourselves accountable for providing exceptional health care to all, and we’re blessed to have earned profound trust.
“We don’t take it lightly.”
AnMed provides services found nowhere else in Upstate SC
It’s responsibility that’s more than a century in the making. Founded in 1908, our not-for-profit health care system has built a reputation on providing exceptional care that has grown as the system, itself, has grown.
The only hospital in Upstate South Carolina to offer both total and partial knee and hip replacement through leading Stryker Mako robotic-arm-assisted systems, AnMed added to its capabilities in 2023.
Cardiothoracic surgery options available nowhere else in the Upstate were among additions, as was the Ion endoluminal system, Intuitive's robotic-assisted platform for minimally invasive, far-reaching biopsy in the lung.
Low-dose radiation treatments for osteoarthritis, an option that helps when others fail – another service found nowhere else in the Upstate – were also among innovations brought to the area.
And community access to our care is growing as our services expand.
Access to health care grows with system
Construction began in the fall on AnMed Piedmont, an investment of more than $35 million that will bring emergency care, primary care, specialty care, physical therapy, and laboratory and imaging services to one of the fastest-growing areas of the state. The campus is scheduled to open at the corner of South Carolina Highway 86 and Old Williamston Road in early 2025.
It will join AnMed Medical Center, AnMed North Campus and AnMed Rehabilitation Hospital in Anderson, AnMed Cannon in Pickens and more than 60 physicians’ practices spread from Easley to Hartwell in our system.
“Population in the northeastern portion of Anderson County around Piedmont and Powdersville has ballooned in recent years, and by providing this facility where it’s needed, right in the heart of the I-85 corridor, we’re being accountable to community needs now and in the future,” Kenley said. “We’re also proud that our primary care office in Honea Path has been certified as a Rural Health Clinic. Expanding access to care, making it easier for our community to be healthier – we consider that to be at the core of our mission.”
Across all three of our federally recognized Rural Health Clinics, 42,588 people were served in 2023.
Thousands more were helped through the Quick Response Vehicle program that earned AnMed, Anderson County and Medshore the honor of being named EMS System of the Year in South Carolina.
Donations of resources and expertise to the Anderson Free Clinic helped the underserved in our more urban area while education was provided through Safe Kids and Doclink programs to improve children’s welfare.
“It’s all part of being accountable to our community – to our friends, neighbors and family,” said Kenley. “It starts with exceptional service.”
Accreditations and independent reviews rank AnMed among best
Accreditations, quality certifications and independent evaluations helped measure that in 2023, when AnMed was among only 604 systems in the nation to earn recognition in the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet program, the highest national honor for professional nursing, a distinction held since 2012.
In the summer AnMed was named among the nation’s 153 “Great Community Hospitals” by Becker’s Hospital Review, a leading, independent industry analyst that evaluated U.S. News & World Report rankings, Healthgrades analysis, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services star ratings, Leapfrog safety grades and more.
AnMed won Zero Harm Awards from the South Carolina Hospital Association for preventing medical errors.
The system’s cardiovascular department won the Chest Pain - MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology, becoming one of only five among 29 eligible in the state to earn the distinction. That came as AnMed Heart & Vascular Diagnostics expanded to meet increased demand for service.
The system was awarded a behavioral health stabilization grant from the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services after investing in renovations at the AnMed Behavioral Health Center.
That investment was part of a facility plan completed in 2023 that brought enhanced surgical services to the Medical Center, expanded and upgraded emergency services, accommodations for outpatient growth at the North Campus, and the relocation of the maternity center to the Medical Center, a move that increased efficiency and cleared the way for additional clinical programming at the North Campus.
“Executing our facility plan to invest in Anderson and grow to meet the growing needs outside of the city was key to our success during the year,” Kenley said. “But it’s about more than providing access to care; it’s about providing access to exceptional care. That’s where we hold ourselves accountable.”
Integrity
Integrity begins with care for our community, and it doesn’t end there
- 42,588: People served through federally credentialed rural health clinics
- 63,719: Emergency department visits
- 557,055: Medical group visits
- 15,637: Inpatient admissions
Accomplishing our mission, to provide exceptional and compassionate care to all we serve, is possible only through embracing our core value of integrity.
Sometimes our service requires sacrifice. Sometimes it’s difficult. Sometimes it’s different from what others are doing.
We do the right thing, no matter what. We consider that our responsibility.
We feel blessed for the impacts that helped us make in 2023.
All AnMed patients deserve and receive highest standard of care
The commitment to integrity at AnMed begins with the care we provide to patients. While we work tirelessly to ensure our patients receive exceptional medical treatment, we see it through with respect and dignity.
That helped improve patient satisfaction and positive outcomes over the course of the year as we cared for 63,719 visits to our Emergency Department, 557,055 visits to our Medical Group and admitted 15,637 people for inpatient care.
We provided $72 million worth of unreimbursed care to Medicare patients.
We improved rigorous systems for monitoring and reporting progress and outcomes while adding capabilities in heart and vascular care, cancer treatment and more to elevate our standards.
Honors and awards are collected with new capabilities
Those standards – built upon the foundation of integrity – earned recognition in the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet program. AnMed was one of only 604 systems in the nation to hold the highest national honor for professional nursing in 2023, a distinction held since 2012.
AnMed was named among the nation’s 153 “Great Community Hospitals” by Becker’s Hospital Review, a leading, independent industry analyst.
And AnMed was honored early in 2023 alongside Anderson County and Medshore for being named the 2022 EMS System of the Year in South Carolina, thanks to expertise, oversight and investment of $1.4 million provided to expand access to care in outlying areas through an innovative Quick Response Vehicle program.
Other initiatives attracted much less attention, but we strive to do what’s right even when no one is watching.
AnMed works tirelessly to serve the underserved
We donated to the Anderson Free Clinic, as we do annually, to help the underserved in our more urban area.
We provided education through Safe Kids and Doclink programs to improve children’s welfare.
Our primary care office in Honea Path was recently certified as an official Rural Health Clinic by the federal government. The location joins two others in AnMed’s outreach to rural, underserved areas.
The system’s federally credentialed rural health clinics served 42,588 visitors in 2023.
The actions guided by integrity made internal impacts, too. They increased job satisfaction and boosted retention. AnMed’s 88% annual retention rate of registered nurses ranks well beyond the 82.4% benchmark of the top 25th percentile nationally.
Retention has helped us improve our standard of care for years.
Diversity, equity and inclusion make AnMed stronger
We implemented a diversity, equity and inclusion program in 2001, long before it became popular or widespread practice in health care. Diversity, equity and inclusion are necessary when the organization’s vision is to work together for better health and a better life.
Our program brought valuable, tangible benefits once again 2023. It made our staff more capable, more engaged and more successful in attacking some of the biggest challenges facing health care today – reducing disparities, improving outcomes and increasing access for marginalized communities across Upstate South Carolina and northeast Georgia.
Cultural competency development and language services armed AnMed and partners with difference-making abilities.
“In our health care environment, integrity encompasses honesty and consistency even when it isn’t easy or familiar,” said Juana Slade, AnMed’s chief diversity officer and director of diversity and language services. “We live out this value by treating everyone – our patients, support persons and each other – with respect and dignity regardless of their unique circumstances or abilities. That’s necessary as we take responsibility for exceeding the expectations of every patient every time.”
DEI initiatives at AnMed support widely varying communities
DEI initiatives mounted in 2023 touched widely varying communities and included:
- Health Equity Coalition, an AnMed team working to reduce health disparities caused by the social determinants of health;
- Patient Safety Net Council, a community group of nonprofit organizations established to help reduce health disparities;
- VetNET, a network providing resources, support and fellowship to active and veteran military members even beyond the more than 100 on AnMed’s staff;
- Teammate Resource Groups, networks providing resources and support to staff from diverse backgrounds;
- YoungPROS, a group of younger professionals who help recruit, retain and engage fellow staff members who are relatively early in their careers; and
- The Nursing Diversity Advisory Council, a group whose outreach to improve care includes cultural competency skills fairs that provide education and empowerment.
We’re striving to do even more in 2024, to be even better, to help the region be better.
“Our integrity demands that,” said Slade. “Because we have integrity, we won’t just coast through the next year; we won’t rest on our laurels knowing we had a successful 2023. There’s more work to do.”
Collaborative
Clinical, educational and community collaborations maximize impacts
- 499: Student-athletes with access to the new AnMed Sports Medicine Center at Anderson University
- 160: Referrals to the telegenetic counseling program operated with newly affiliated partner Medical University of South Carolina
- $1.4 million: Investment to enable a Quick Response Vehicle program thanks to partnership with Anderson County and Medshore
The sentence used to articulate AnMed’s value of being collaborative is simple and direct: We are better together as one team. It’s a statement that’s as inclusive and broad as it is succinct.
Indeed, AnMed is a better health care system because its some 3,600 employees work together, communicate, share, assist and support each other. More importantly, though, Anderson County, Pickens County, the Upstate of South Carolina and northeast Georgia are better because so many opportunities for productive collaboration have been seized.
We are better together – as members of our community, as stakeholders in our health care system – as one team. That’s what it takes to effect healthy change.
And 2023 was a year to celebrate great successes made possible only through teamwork.
Clinical collaborations enable more services
Collaborative clinical partnerships enabled more access, increased convenience and additional services.
AnMed’s expertise, oversight and investment of $1.4 million expanded access to care for rural residents through an innovative Quick Response Vehicle program, an initiative that provides paramedic-staffed vehicles that are equipped to rapidly provide emergency care. During a ceremony in early 2023, AnMed, Anderson County and MedShore – the partnership that made the QRV program possible – were named 2022 EMS System of Year in South Carolina for those efforts.
Joint ventures at AnMed ENT - Anderson, Upstate Gastroenterology and AnMed Rehabilitation Hospital brought exceptional specialized care to the local community.
An agreement with Select Medical was reached in 2023 to bring different specialized care to the community through a critical illness recovery hospital, commonly called a long-term acute care hospital, or LTACH. Plans were laid for collaboration on support and services for the facility to open in 2024 on the second floor of the AnMed North Campus hospital.
It will be known as Regency Hospital - Upstate, and it will help AnMed fill continuum of care by specializing in the treatment of patients with serious medical conditions that require ongoing inpatient care but not expensive intensive care or extensive diagnostic procedures.
Another new collaboration was announced in 2023 to function in clinical and educational realms. AnMed and Medical Univeristy of South Carolina, the academic health system based in Charleston, launched affiliation to provide enhanced access to leading medical treatment while optimizing the exceptional care already in place. The partnership was designed to enable the health systems to identify opportunities to expand and improve access to services, recruit physicians and lower costs for patients.
The institutions established a relationship in 2014, when an agreement was reached to make AnMed the first branch campus of the medical school based in the South Carolina Lowcountry. That educational collaboration has since grown and continues to this day.
Educational collaborations bring far-reaching benefits
Other educational collaborations grew at AnMed in 2023.
Nurse training and scholarship programs at Tri-County Technical College provided investment in workforce development.
Partnerships at Anderson University reached new levels. Longstanding programs have opened AnMed to clinical rotations for nursing students who in turn gain valuable experience even back in their classrooms through access to AnMed’s electronic health records system, an initiative made possible by collaboration with Epic Systems.
Other programs facilitated through the joint efforts of AnMed and Anderson University have established space for the Anderson University Center for Cancer Research and opened access to laboratories so physicians can hone skills on the latest techniques and new procedures.
A new program joined the AnMed-AU partnership in the spring, when the AnMed Sports Medicine Center was created to go on the college’s athletic campus. The center facilitates care for all Anderson University student-athletes, but it also enhances the partners’ sports medicine fellowship program, and that practice of routine and special care strengthens AnMed to provide premier orthopedic services to patients young and old.
Other collaborations impact the community at large and within AnMed
Such service to the community is actively and constantly pursued by AnMed, a 115-year-old not-for-profit system. It’s cherished by AnMed. It’s the embodiment of AnMed’s mission, to provide exceptional and compassionate care to all who are served.
Donations, contributions and sponsorships guided by capable partners like the Anderson Free Clinic, the United Way of Anderson County and the Cancer Association of Anderson improved the lives and health of people in Anderson and beyond in 2023, just as they have and as they will for years to come.
And within the walls of the AnMed system, itself, collaboration was the key to unlocking enrichment of AnMed’s culture. Presentations and exercises tied to AnMed’s five organizational values were presented to team members over the course of the year. Bonding together with resolve and focus in the process, team members studied and put into practice what it meant to be accountable, to have integrity, to be compassionate, to be innovative, and to be collaborative.
The inward attention helped AnMed’s outward focus. It helped team members collaborate beyond AnMed’s walls to engage AnMed’s vision: Working together for better health and a better life.
It set the stage for an even better year in 2024.
Compassionate
Our compassion extends beyond system walls
- $100 million: Uncompensated care
- $2.8 million: Money provided to support patient needs by the AnMed Foundation
- 64%: Percentage of teammates participating in our Employee Giving Campaign, one of the highest rates in comparable programs nationwide
Compassion doesn’t end when a patient leaves a hospital or physician’s office, not for the staff at AnMed. It carries on and extends beyond our health care system’s walls throughout communities from Powdersville to Hartwell.
Being compassionate is a value at the heart of everything we do, and providing compassionate care is our way of life.
“True, heartfelt concern guides our every action,” said Shaunda Trotter, chief nursing officer. “Compassion drives our skill and shapes our mentality every day. It’s all about respect, kindness and caring.”
It’s evident in the care we provide, of course.
It’s also evident in how we provide it.
“We've helped patients find lost earrings. We've accompanied worried family members to the bedsides of ill loved ones. We've made radiation treatment more comfortable. We’ve sung happy birthday to an elderly lady just hours before she died. We're proud to do these kinds of things on a daily basis.”
And 2023 provided ample opportunity.
AnMed’s service is not confined to hospitals or offices
AnMed’s nurturing and positive environment is delivered by staff throughout the organization who feel responsibility and share empathy for patients’ and families’ concerns and needs.
“The heart and intent of a caregiver is to care and heal, to help and alleviate any distress and pain,” Trotter said. “The intent of compassionate care is to do that with a warm heart, with human connection that helps make our work even more fulfilling. It all flows from our mission to provide exceptional and compassionate care to all we serve.”
One elderly patient was overjoyed by the compassion she sparked from our staff in the fall. She wasn’t eating well and missed her husband. The nurse caring for her noticed, of course, and sprang into action. The nurse called Dr. James Stumpff, an AnMed emergency medicine physician who is of German descent, to see if he knew where to get good German food. The patient was originally from Germany, after all. Dr. Stumpff did one better; he cooked good German food himself. And the nurse reached a neighbor of the patient to arrange a ride to the hospital for the patient’s husband.
It all came together one beautiful afternoon when the patient ate a tasty Sunday dinner with her husband on fine china brought in for the occasion.
And our service is not confined to specific cases or locations. While Home Health and ambulatory teams deliver care out in local communities, AnMed’s 3,600 employees deliver compassion outside the medical realm. They volunteer and serve in countless roles for countless honorable causes.
And the AnMed Foundation delivers compassionate impact beyond the health system on a grand scale, carrying on tradition decades in the making.
AnMed Foundation delivers compassionate impact on grand scale
Founded in 1985 and reorganized in 2012 as an independent nonprofit organization, the AnMed Foundation raises money for a wide range of community programs and initiatives.
Since its inception, our Foundation has donated more than $10 million to help meet the greatest health care needs of the community. In 2022, $2.8 million was raised, and 2023 was on track to see the same wonderful level of giving.
“Where the system falls short of completely handling every need, we call that the excellence gap, and that gap is very thin,” said Tim Self, executive director of the AnMed Foundation. “That’s where philanthropy comes in."
“There are many things we are able to do thanks to generous support, such as our Safe Kids Anderson County program. We raise money to support a full-time staff person who gives away free bicycle helmets, who gives away personal flotation devices to kids to swim safely, who gives free car seats to new families at discharge from Labor and Delivery if they can’t afford one or have only a hand-me-down that’s expired.”
Elder care is extensively supported by the Foundation, too. One program empowers health care workers to easily activate pharmacy coupons to ensure patients can afford to get their prescriptions filled.
Foundation works at the crossroads of needs and resources
Transportation vouchers and prosthetic bras for cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomies are also among support provided by the Foundation.
Simply put, Self said, the Foundation exists at the “crossroads of needs and resources,” and its work helps Upstate communities thrive.
The Foundation accomplishes its goals through the generosity of individual donors, community foundations and corporate partners.
Another source of gifts to the Foundation is AnMed employees, themselves. Time and time again, these dedicated health care professionals go above and beyond their usual responsibilities by donating directly through the Foundation’s Better Together campaign.
While each of the Foundation’s partner sources gives for its own reasons, their philanthropy is rooted in gratitude for the services provided by AnMed. Those services reach those who are most vulnerable, and they create better and healthier outcomes.
“Just that little act of compassion from our donors makes such a difference,” Self said. “Many of them have been there, in a position where a little help could make a big positive impact. They want to do something to ease someone’s pain or help people who are healing. And we get to be in the center of making those things happen.”
Among special funds that the Foundation sponsors are:
- Cancer Care Assistance Fund
- Peggy G. Deane Nursing Fund
- Robert B. Claytor Assistance Fund (formerly the Chaplain’s Fund)
- Employee Financial Assistance Fund
Foundation efforts help AnMed strengthen communities
Programs managed by the Foundation include AnMed Therapy - Pediatrics, which serves more than 600 children with developmental delays and disorders, and the school-based Doclink, which empowers local children to lead healthy lives.
One Doclink initiative sends health care professionals into classrooms to teach students how to read nutrition labels on groceries.
Regular community health assessments of needs and disparities steer the tactics, with considerable support from the Foundation, community members and AnMed’s 3,600 employees, who carry compassion into and away from their time at work.
“Compassionate care is at the center of it all,” said Trotter. “Our goal is that every teammate delivers a consistent, excellent experience with compassion through every encounter.”
Innovative
By adapting and innovating, we improve and grow when others failed
- 18-35: Ages served by the new Young Adult Primary Care practice that is the first of its kind in Upstate SC
- $23 million: Combined added revenue and reduced costs generated by our Accelerating Excellence program to enable growth and improvement
- 1: Health systems in Upstate SC named among Great Community Hospitals by Becker’s Hospital Review
While more than half of all U.S. hospitals carried financial losses into 2023, according to the American Hospital Association, more than 40 announced closures or the elimination of services over the course of the year. Thankfully, AnMed was not among them.
Despite industrywide financial pressures that threatened the level of care provided to communities across the nation, AnMed maintained a positive operating margin without making cuts to personnel or service. We adapted.
In fact, we added to services in 2023.
That’s because we are innovative.
Innovation helps AnMed avoid fate of other health care systems
“The health care industry, during COVID and post-COVID, has really had some financial headwinds – big, big challenges to the extent that hospital closures are at an all-time high, and service-line disruptions and reductions in employment are occurring across the nation,” said Christine Pearson, AnMed’s chief financial officer. “As a not-for-profit health system, we must maintain a positive financial operating margin so that we can invest money back in the organization and be able to continue to do what we do. So we’ve had to devise new ways to increase efficiency. And we want to do that without hurting the service that we provide to a wonderful community that depends on us.”
Through innovation enabled by collaboration and dedication, AnMed has been able to do just that.
The Accelerating Excellence program leads that charge. Started in 2020 and increasing in impact every year, the initiative identifies ways to increase efficiencies, bring in new revenue and reduce costs so that the exceptional care provided by AnMed can grow and improve.
A fitting goal of $23 million in combined savings and revenue was set for 2023, and the mission was more than accomplished. An impact of a whopping $35 million was made over the course of 2023.
New tactics in supply management were among behind-the-scenes scores in optimizing efficiency.
New tools make communication easier and more effective
Further help came from the implementation of tools from Cedar, a financial engagement platform that enabled AnMed to more easily and effectively communicate with patients before and after their visits. It’s created digital convenience, saved time and avoided frustration for AnMed patients and staff.
In November AnMed became the first health care system in the nation to launch full-service Medicaid enrollment through Cedar’s Affordable Care Expert, developed through partnership with Advocatia. Cedar’s Affordable Care Expert connects consumers with Medicaid enrollment, outside funding sources and self-service tools to make care more affordable.
It’s helping us increase access to care, ease staff workload and boost financial performance.
“More than 100,000 people in South Carolina have lost their Medicaid coverage since the federal protections ended, yet many of these patients are still eligible – they just need help understanding and accessing the enrollment process,” Pearson said. “This new tool is helping our community members reduce their coverage gaps.”
New treatment provides help when others fail
Another boost to our financial health came through the addition of a treatment option found nowhere else in the area, low-dose radiation treatment for osteoarthritis. Radiation Oncology Manager Melanie Jennings learned about success with the treatments at Vanderbilt University, and she presented the idea of incorporating that at AnMed to the doctors on staff, who were willing to work it into our repertoire.
Not only does it help patients find relief when other treatments have failed, it’s helped AnMed cut downtime for instruments and resources while creating a new line of revenue.
Another innovative new service came in August with the opening of AnMed Young Adult Primary Care, the only health care practice in the Upstate focusing on the unique needs of peoples ages 18 to 35. The practice has brought personalized care, modern conveniences and specific expertise with opportunities for same-day appointments and lab draws, self check-in and scheduling, immunizations and more.
Earlier in 2023, AnMed was honored alongside Anderson County and Medshore for being named the 2022 EMS System of the Year in South Carolina. The award was presented for expertise, oversight and investment of $1.4 million to expand access to care through a Quick Response Vehicle program. The program puts first-responders, equipment and resources in outlying areas of need more quickly than relying on ambulances, alone.
New services help lead to big honor for AnMed
Such innovations helped AnMed to be named among the nation’s 153 “Great Community Hospitals” by Becker’s Hospital Review, a leading, independent industry analyst.
Our standard of care, expansion of access to care and training programs were among initiatives touted by the Becker’s editorial team.
“When we improve what we do and how we do it, we become a better partner with our community in forging better health and a better life,” said AnMed CEO William Kenley. “That’s why being innovative is among our core values. It goes with being accountable, having integrity, being collaborative and being compassionate to form a foundation for our culture. And our culture – our common beliefs, values and attitudes – is something we’re proud of.”