Women's Health and Imaging in Columbia gets faster results for patients

A few weeks after the opening of MUSC Health Women’s Health and Imaging Services in Columbia, the breast surgeon leading the center said it’s paying off for patients. Hart Parker, M.D., gave a recent example.

“I had a patient who came in the other day from out of town with a lump in her breast. She had her evaluation with me, and I walked her over to the imaging center and talked to our breast radiologist, Dr. Jeanette Fulton. They did a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound and then had her biopsy. She was home within two hours.”

 

That’s how things should work, he said. But it isn’t how it has always worked in the past in the Columbia area. “Not uncommonly, patients would call me and say, ‘I got an abnormal mammogram, and my biopsy isn’t for three to four weeks.’”

Having the Imaging Center now embedded in MUSC Women’s Health in downtown Columbia is a change for the better, Parker said. “It's an opportunity to be able to combine screening and diagnostic imaging in the same facility in combination with our surgery office.”

The center has features designed with women’s comfort in mind. “Women come into a separate door after parking in a designated pink parking space. There are fresh flowers with aromatherapy in the lobby and coffee available. We wanted to create a spa-like environment to ease any anxiety,” Parker said.

 

“We work hand in hand with South Carolina Oncology Associates, who provide outstanding comprehensive oncology care for patients. Having a program where the imaging center supports a multidisciplinary team approach to cancer care is great.”

The new services are part of a larger effort to expand health care for women in the Columbia area. A state-of-the-art labor and delivery unit opened earlier this year in the MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Northeast.

Parker said bringing care closer to home for our patients is important. “Availability in medicine is everything – people being taken care of in a timely fashion, appropriately.”

He said the goal is seamless comprehensive care. “We want to create a system that provides exceptional care in a compassionate manner that is accessible to all.