2023 Legislative Agenda

While much of SCHA’s advocacy efforts over the past year have been directed at supporting hospitals and health systems as they respond to the myriad challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also continue to advance the following policies that support our member’s efforts to serve their patients and communities:

• Workforce: The healthcare workforce is facing unprecedented shortages at all levels. Broad efforts to improve education, training, recruitment, and retention of patient care providers are needed to meet the needs of patients in South Carolina.
• Behavioral Health: South Carolina lacks a robust, coordinated behavioral health system to meet the needs of the state’s citizens. Improving capacity, updating reimbursement for behavioral health services, and building a larger workforce are important steps for meeting this need.
• Reform, But Don’t Repeal, Certificate of Need: The Certificate of Need program in South Carolina is in need of reform, but there are aspects of the program that are important to protecting access to healthcare for underserved populations. SCHA proposes broad changes to the program to improve efficiency while maintaining the benefits of CON.

A downloadable PDF of this agenda is available here.