The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services provided 26 grants to healthcare centers and organizations worth $48.2 million in an effort to improve medical care access.
The grant recipients focus on essential healthcare areas like primary care, pediatrics, behavioral health, and maternal and infant care, according to a SCDHHS news release.
Each grant recipient will get up to $3 million in one-time infrastructure funds and has to operate grant-funded facilities for at least five years.
The grants come after a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group revealed 38% of people in South Carolina live in a primary care physician shortage area, 9 percentage points more than the national average of 29%, the release said.
Grant funds are drawn from one-time funding allotted from the South Carolina general assembly to SCDHHS for infrastructure investment that will improve healthcare community access that is consistent with South Carolina's rural health initiative.