South Carolina Primary Health Care Association

Through its established working relationships with both the rural Community Health Centers (a.k.a. Federally Qualified Health Centers) that comprise the RCORP Consortium and longstanding community partners, the South Carolina Primary Health Care Association (SCPHCA) provides training, technical assistance, networking, and resources to Consortium members through its established infrastructure. The RCORP Consortium is currently comprised of 13 rural FQHCs providing high-quality, integrated substance use disorder (SUD) and opioid use disorder (OUD) services within the targeted rural service area for this grant award. The SCPHCA RCORP target population focuses primarily on individuals who are patients of participating health centers (consortium members) that are at risk for, diagnosed with, and/or are in treatment or recovery for OUD. Using the same successful approach that has been refined through decades, the SCPHCA utilizes its training, technical assistance and networking infrastructure to deliver and disseminate evidence-based interventions and best-practices; leverage established health information technology (HIT) platforms to improve patient outcomes in the target rural service areas; and leverages the resources of community partners to create a comprehensive approach to the prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Specific focus areas of the project include but are not limited to: Mental Health First Aid Training, community engagement in OUD treatment and prevention, T/TA opportunities for pharmacists, population health analytics, oral health integration into OUD services, academic partnerships to conduct research, and more. SCPHCA partners with supporting organization to: 1) address these issues across our consortium need; 2) provide support for those working with the broader community, a secondary target population, to address need; and 3) build a sustainable resource past the funding years. Activities conducted by the SCPHCA RCORP are aimed at providing integrated behavioral health which will improve overall patient and community health outcomes and reduce disparities.