Shake-up of health agencies makes way through S.C. State House
COLUMBIA, S.C (WRDW/WAGT) - A bill advancing at the State House would shake up who’s in charge of the health services that many South Carolinians rely on.
Data shows South Carolina is spending more money than some other states to boost people’s health – but it’s not paying off: South Carolinians are among the unhealthiest Americans.
This summer – one of South Carolina’s largest state agencies, the Department of Health and Environmental Control – will split into two new agencies.
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A bill senators approved here Tuesday is the next step in that process to improve health service delivery and health outcomes for South Carolinians.
“We don’t get the health care outcomes we deserved based on the money we’re putting in,” said Sen. Tom Davis. R-Beaufort.
A report from Boston Consulting Group identified a big reason why.
It found seven separate state agencies oversee health services and human services in South Carolina.
“South Carolina is the most fragmented structure for health and human services delivery in the country,” said Colleen Desmond of the Boston Consulting Group.
This bill would merge those fractured agencies into one, under the new “Executive Office of Health and Policy,” led by a secretary appointed by the governor, with senators’ approval.
Under this office would be the existing Departments of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, Disabilities and Special Needs, Health and Human Services, Mental Health and Aging, plus the new Department of Public Health that’ll be created this summer when DHEC splits.
“One of the primary purposes of this bill is to end the fractured nature of the way that we deliver public health services in South Carolina,” Davis said.
Some senators expressed concerns over funding because right now, money from a state tax on alcohol sales goes directly to counties to fund local alcohol and drug abuse services.
It totals to about $5 million – and under this bill, the state would control where that money goes.
“One of the counties I represent, the needs are critical there, and they may have no outlet for behavioral health services, and so that’s what concerns me because I don’t know even what that $5 million hit might do to them locally,” said Sen. Thomas McElveen, D-Sumter.
“One of the things that this does it is allows those dollars to be directed down to where the need is,” Davis said.
Ultimately, senators overwhelmingly approved the bill in a 42-to-1 vote.
After a final vote in the Senate on Wednesday, the bill will head to the House, where a similar companion bill awaits a debate.
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