Latest updates: Hurricane Helene
Our public health departments' hours of operation may be affected by power and staffing outages. This means that some closures may not appear on the state government office delays and closings map. The health and safety of our employees and our clients remains our highest priority. We are working to get services restored as safely and quickly as possible.
Learn more about DPH's role with hurricanes, floods, and weather emergencies.
The Certificate of Need Program administers a regulatory regime known as the State Certification of Need and Health Facility Licensure Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") that is set forth in S.C. Code Sections 44-7-110 to 44-7-230.
The purpose of the Act is to promote cost containment, prevent unnecessary duplication of health care facilities and services, guide the establishment of health facilities and services which will best serve public need and ensure high quality services are provided in health facilities in this State.
A Crisis Stabilization Unit Facility is a facility, other than a health care facility, operated by the Department of Mental Health, or operated in partnership with the Department of Mental Health that provides a short-term residential program, offering psychiatric stabilization services and brief, intensive crisis services to individuals eighteen (18) years of age or older, twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week.
THIS INFORMATION IS FOR LABORATORIES OPERATING IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA ONLY. IF YOU ARE A LABORATORY OPERATING IN A STATE OTHER THAN SOUTH CAROLINA PLEASE CONTACT THE CLIA PROGRAM IN YOUR STATE.
The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) program oversees laboratories that test human specimens for diagnostic purposes. These include hospital laboratories, stand-alone diagnostic labs, and doctors' offices.
Tattooing is to indelibly mark or color the skin by subcutaneous introduction of nontoxic dyes or pigments. The practice of tattooing does not include the removal of tattoos, the practice of branding, cutting, scarification, skin braiding, or the mutilation of any part of the body.
DHEC licenses midwives in accordance with Regulation 61-24, Standards for Licensing Midwives.
Individuals must pass both the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) national written examination and an oral examination administered by DHEC in addition to other prescribed requirements on page 8 of Regulation 61-24.
License renewal is every two years with continuing education required.
An Intermediate Care Facility for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF-IID) is a facility that serves four (4) or more persons with intellectual disability or persons with related conditions and provides health or rehabilitative services on a regular basis to individuals whose mental and physical conditions require services including room, board, and active treatment for their intellectual disability or related conditions.
An in-home care provider is a business entity, corporation, or association, whether operated for profit or not for profit, that for compensation directly provides or makes provision for in-home care services through:
Freestanding or mobile technology is medical equipment used for diagnosis or treatment. The equipment is owned or operated by a person, other than a health care facility (as defined in S.C. Code Ann. § 44- 7-130 (1976, as amended)), for which the total cost is in excess of that prescribed by R.61-15 and for which specific standards or criteria are prescribed in the State Health Plan.