DPH Recognizes Healthcare Quality Team for National Patient Safety Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 9, 2026

COLUMBIA, S.C. – During National Patient Safety Week, March 8-14, the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) is recognizing its Healthcare Quality team for their essential role in safeguarding the health, safety, and well-being of residents statewide.

DPH’s Healthcare Quality is responsible for ensuring health care facilities and several types of providers in South Carolina provide safe, high quality care. DPH enforces standards and inspects and licenses a broad range of facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, home health agencies and ambulatory surgical centers. South Carolina’s laws and regulations related to health care facilities exist to establish safe standards for protecting the health of the residents they care for.

Healthcare Quality staff routinely inspect these facilities to ensure they are operating in compliance with applicable state and federal regulations and in a manner that protects the health and safety of their patients, residents and clients.  

“Every patient deserves care that meets the highest standards of quality and safety,” said Gwen Thompson, DPH’s Deputy Director of Healthcare Quality. “DPH’s Healthcare Quality staff are committed to promoting high-quality health care services across the state.”

In 2025, DPH Healthcare Quality:

• Regulated Peds Ready hospitals and EMS agencies that provide care to more than 210,000 pediatric patients
• Performed 2,000 drug control inspections, ensuring accountability for controlled substances
• Conducted 1,425 routine inspections and investigations of community residential care facilities and 1,310 routine inspections and investigations of nursing homes

In addition to routine inspections, Healthcare Quality staff are responsible for investigating complaints of potential state and/or federal regulatory violations at certain health facilities and providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, Community Residential Care Facilities (assisted living), and Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics.

If violations are found, the facility or provider is responsible for submitting a plan of correction to DPH, outlining the action taken to correct each cited deficiency, the action taken to prevent recurrences and the actual or expected completion dates of those actions taken.  

Visit the DPH website to learn more about how DPH inspects and certifies health care facilities. In addition to DPH, friends and family members also play a critical role in the safety of their loved ones. Ask questions of the facility or provider, check on your family member often and report any concern right away.

Complaints against a health facility or service regulated by DPH can be submitted online. If you are unable to submit your health facility complaint online, you can call our office at 1-800-922-6735 and indicate you wish to file a complaint against a health facility or service.

"DPH takes patient safety very seriously, and we thoroughly investigate complaints we receive,” Thompson said. “We want patients and their families to feel assured that our staff are listening and working diligently to ensure they are protected and receive quality care they deserve from all DPH-licensed facilities.”

DPH Healthcare Quality also focuses on educating facilities and helping them improve year-round. Staff offer compliance assistance meetings with facilities to address concerns as well as trainings related to common violations and citations. Additionally, DPH Fire and Life Safety offers Fire Response Trainings to assist with maintaining compliance.

To learn more about DPH Healthcare Quality, visit DPH's Healthcare Quality webpage.

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