With the end of 2016 just a few weeks away, SouthCoast Health, a multi-specialty, physician-owned medical group, is looking back on its 20th year in business. Since its inception, the practice has experienced exponential growth — from 20 physicians in 1996 to more that 120 healthcare professionals at present, along with 18 locations throughout the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry.

SouthCoast Health Administrator John Marrero has been with the practice since the beginning, when a number of physicians who met regularly to discuss the state of their industry decided that they would have greater success moving forward if they combined forces. Those original physicians, based on their foresight, invested their own money to purchase and renovate a vacant grocery store building on Eisenhower Drive in Savannah that has become a thriving medical campus.

As originally constituted, SouthCoast Health (named SouthCoast Medical Group at the time of formation) was comprised largely of primary care physicians. Today, it offers specialties as diverse as general surgery, neurology, pediatrics, cardiology and allergy and immunology.

Marrero reflected on lessons learned over time as the practice has grown to serve thousands of more patients.

"What we've learned is that our growth has to be focused around a strategic plan and long-term thoughts about medical specialties that our patients need and that improve the practice," Marrero said. "Over time, we also have become a much more structured organization, an organization that spends much more time on planning and not just executing. We are a lot more deliberate and purposed about our growth."

In alignment with its mission to achieve total wellness for its patients, SouthCoast Health has made delivering quality healthcare a hallmark of its practice. It has received National Committee for Quality Assurance recognition for its diabetic care and also for its heart/stroke care. The practice also has received Patient-Centered Medical Home Standard 3 certification and qualifies for Meaningful Use (under federal government guidelines).