Lawmakers at the State House are exploring solutions to South Carolinaโs doctor shortage, including funding residency programs and addressing rural care gaps.
COLUMBIA, S.C. โ South Carolina lawmakers are discussing ways to address a growing physician shortage that could leave the state short by 3,000 doctors by 2026, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Experts say the state must take steps to attract and retain more doctors to meet the needs of its aging population.
“They try and get appointments with doctors, and sometimes itโs two, three, or four months out,โ said Rep. Lee Hewitt, chairman of the House Ways and Means Healthcare Subcommittee. โThey need medical care then.โ
One proposed solution includes a $10 million boost to the Department of Health and Human Services to enhance its Graduate Medical Education Program, which helps fund medical residency training at hospitals. The proposal would pay hospitals a per-resident fee to encourage them to add more residency spots, which the Department says would “allow the state to develop payment incentives as a tool to help address specific physician shortages,” according to a presentation from SCDHHS Interim Director Eunice Medina.
Lawmakers say if they can incentivize people to complete their training programs in the state, they’d be more likely to stay.
โIf people come here and work, and they get to know a community, the odds are they will continue to live in that community or in the state,โ Hewitt said.
Hewitt says their biggest gaps are in OBGYNs and the mental healthcare field.
It also has caused concern about the impacts the shortage might have on patient care and accessibility, and how lawmakers might make that more affordable. Rep. Todd Rutherford says it’s time for the state to pass Medicaid expansion.
โWe need to make the environment more conducive to practicing medicine,โ Rutherford said. โWhen we talk about a shortage of doctors, what we are really talking about is a shortage of people getting medical care in the state.โ
Lawmakers are also exploring ways to attract physicians to rural areas, which they say face the most significant shortages.
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