South Carolina is critically short of mental healthcare providers, and those providers make less on the dollar compared to other kinds of medical providers in the state, according to a report released Tuesday by Inseparable, a nonprofit mental health advocacy organization.
The report finds moderate shortages at South Carolina’s state psychiatric facilities, mental health crisis systems, and community mental health providers. That tracks with data released in December by KFF, which reported that South Carolina meets about 31% of needed mental health coverage in-state, due to a shortage of 201 providers — about 3% of the overall shortage in U.S. mental healthcare providers.
The Inseparable report also finds that South Carolina’s mental healthcare providers make about 60 cents for every $1 that physicians and surgeons in the state make. This, the report argues, is driving insurance holders to go out of network to find mental healthcare at a rate 3.3 times that of patients seeking medical or surgical care.
Mental Health America ranked South Carolina 49th out of the 50 states and District of Columbia for access to mental healthcare in 2025, ahead of only Alabama and Texas. American Addiction Centers also ranked South Carolina moderate to low for total state expenditure on mental healthcare, share of mental healthcare agency spending per capita, and the amount of state mental health agency expenditure per client.
The South Carolina Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (BHDD) Office of Mental Health oversees a workforce of psychiatrists, licensed counselors, nurses, case managers, and support staff, provides mental health care through a network of 16 community-based outpatient mental health centers and clinics that serve all 46 counties. In a statement Tuesday, the agency said all clinics “are accepting new patients. No one is turned away for treatment regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.”
There has been progress towards recruiting new mental health professionals. State lawmakers have invested in the Rural Behavioral Health Professional Incentive Program, which provides up to $60,000 to qualified mental healthcare professionals who commit to practicing in rural areas of the state.
“Medicaid reimbursement in SC for behavioral health services have also increased significantly since 2022 via State Plan Amendments and fee schedule updates,” said Maya Pack, executive director of the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health. “Most recently, late last year.”
Increases are listed on this webpage from the state Department of Health and Human Services.