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34 18 Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce 2026 Economic Trends Industry: Health Care Two nationally recognized medical centers deliver top quality health care to the region's residents: Memorial University Medical Center and the St. Joseph's/Candler Health System. These centers, and the advanced medical specialties they offer, attract people from all over southeast Georgia and the southern coastal area of South Carolina. The medical facilities are also the top two private nonmanufacturing employers in the metropolitan area. The health care sector accounts for $2 billion of personal income in the Savannah MSA or 8% of total regional personal income. Memorial University Medical Center (www.memorialhealth.com) Memorial Health is a leader in healthcare in Savannah and southeast Georgia. It boasts the region's only Level I trauma center, Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), comprehensive stroke center and the Memorial Health Dwaine and Cynthia Willett Children's Hospital of Savannah. In 2018, Memorial Health joined HCA Healthcare, one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare services. To date, HCA Healthcare has invested more than $525 million (M) in new programs, equipment, facilities and upgrades to meet the healthcare needs of our growing community. Major investments include: • New freestanding Children's Hospital of Savannah ($66M) • 56-bed expansion in Memorial's Heart & Vascular Institute ($30M) and 28-bed expansion in Level III NICU ($30M) • Renovation of Memorial's main patient tower ($20M) • New medical office buildings on Memorial campus and in Pooler • New medical equipment and technology In March 2025, Memorial announced plans to build a new $281M patient bed tower on the hospital's midtown Savannah campus. Also in 2025, Memorial Health officials reaffirmed $42M plans to build freestanding emergency rooms in Pooler and Richmond Hill. Memorial Health has also impacted its community since joining HCA Healthcare. The hospital has paid more than $165M in taxes and contributed more than $2.5M to charitable organizations. St. Joseph's/Candler Health System (www.sjchs.org) St. Joseph's/Candler is the region's largest healthcare provider, featuring top specialists and the latest technology to give patients the highest quality of care. St. Joseph's/Candler Health System began in 1997 when two Savannah hospitals partnered to create the largest faith-based nonprofit health institution in Savannah and its surrounding areas. Its two anchor hospitals, St. Joseph's Hospital and Candler Hospital, have total capacities of 330 beds and 384 beds respectively. St. Joseph's/Candler (SJ/C) offers primary care top-level primary care and specialists across the region. The SJ/C Physician Network provides patients with convenient Primary Care offices and highly-trained specialists. For the last decade the system has expanded access to patients into southeast Georgia and South Carolina including specialized inpatient and outpatient services for oncology, pulmonology, cardiovascular, digestive disease services, neurological/neurosurgical and orthopedics. To create better access, the system built a new 83,000-sqaure-foot campus in Pooler and offers a broad range of medical services for the growing population in west Chatham and nearby counties, creating a one-stop, convenient healthcare destination redefining the healthcare experience through imagination, innovation, and modern technology. A regional campus in Richmond Hill in Bryan County at Heartwood opened in 2024 that provides urgent care, primary care and specialty services. In 2025 SJ/C opened a new campus in Bryan County at Black Creek, near the Hyundai Meta Plant. In South Carolina. SJ/C has opened a regional medical campus in Bluffton at Buckwalter Place that greatly expands services and access to healthcare for that rapidly growing community. SJ/C has provided medical services in Bluffton and Hilton Head for the past 20 years, and this development aims to consolidate most of these medical services in one location that is at the center of growth in Bluffton. SJ/C has a robust community outreach program to care for the uninsured and underinsured. In 2012, the health system received the Foster McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Services from the American Hospital Association. Source: From public relations offices at MUMC and SJCHS. Updated 12/2025.