Health Center Program - SERVICE AREA ID NUMBER, CITY, AND STATE: ID # 216; Florence, SC DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: HopeHealth, Inc. (HopeHealth) is a federally qualified health center (FQHC) based in Florence, SC and serving communities across the Pee Dee, Coastal Plain, and Low Country regions. In 2024, HopeHealth served 59,287 total patients with 211,975 medical clinic visits, 1,014 virtual medical visits, 9,407 dental clinic visits, 21,384 mental health clinic visits, 2,352 virtual mental health visits, 1,647 substance use disorder clinic visits, 72 vision clinic visits, and 15,817 enabling services clinic visits. The center also provided nutrition and chiropractic services through 6,213 clinic visits and 219 virtual visits (UDS, 2024). HopeHealth’s patient growth trend for the period 2022 to 2024 is 2.28%. HopeHealth has received Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) certification and, as an existing FQHC with an established presence in the region, is well positioned to continue providing access to comprehensive primary and preventive health services for the medically underserved populations of the service area. NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED: HopeHealth provides integrated family-centered primary health care to underserved populations of Clarendon, Darlington, Florence, Orangeburg, Sumter, and Williamsburg counties in the PeeDee Region in northeast SC. Within the service area, 41.4% of residents live with incomes at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG). The population to provider ratio in the service area demonstrates a severe shortage of primary care, dental, and mental health providers, presenting a significant barrier to care (HPSA Data, HRSA Data Warehouse, 2025; County Health Rankings, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2025). PROPOSED SERVICES: HopeHealth operates nearly twenty service delivery locations throughout the service area, including comprehensive primary care centers, centers imbedded with senior retirement communities, and school-based health centers. HopeHealth directly provides primary medical care, diagnostic laboratory, screenings, coverage for emergencies, voluntary family planning, immunizations, well child care, preventive dental, pharmaceutical, case management, eligibility assistance, health education, outreach, transportation, translation, additional dental, mental health, substance use disorder, nutrition, complementary and alternative medicine, additional enabling/supportive services, psychiatry, endocrinology, infectious disease, pain management, and rheumatology services to meet service area needs. HopeHealth also maintains collaborative relationships to provide referral access to other services such as vision, radiology, prenatal care, intrapartum care, postpartum care to which patients would otherwise have limited access. Proposed staffing to support project implementation includes 14.25 FTE family physicians, 3.16 FTE internists, 2.20 FTE OB/GYNs, 5.0 FTE pediatricians, 5.40 FTE specialty physicians (infectious disease, endocrinology, rheumatology), 28.50 FTE nurse practitioners, 8.0 FTE physician assistants, 63.0 FTE nurses, 75.0 FTE other medical staff, 1.0 FTE dentist, 4.0 FTE dental hygienists, 8.0 FTE other dental personnel, 1.0 FTE psychiatrist, 5.0 FTE LCSW, 15.63 FTE other licensed mental health providers, 2.0 FTE substance use disorder providers, 4.0 FTE professional health services staff (nutritionists/dietitians, chiropractor), 75.92 FTE pharmacy staff, 28.96 FTE case managers, 8.0 FTE outreach staff, 0.65 FTE transportation staff, 20.77 FTE eligibility staff, and 10.0 FTE community health workers. POPULATION GROUPS TO BE SERVED: HopeHealth prioritizes services to medically underserved populations in the service area. This includes patients living with incomes at or below 200% FPG. HopeHealth projects that 59,287 unduplicated patients will be served annually by 12/31/2028 as specified in the SAAT.
