South Carolina has awarded 228 grants totaling $167.3 million for rural health projects, moving the state’s first year of federal transformation funding from planning into facility upgrades, mobile services, workforce programs and health technology in communities across the state.

The eight-page award list released by the Department of Health and Human Services identifies recipients and amounts across four initiatives. Individual awards range from $13,011 for a facility project to more than $8.2 million for a health-information-technology project. Several health systems, hospitals, clinics and public agencies received multiple awards for separate activities.

South Carolina received 712 applications by the June 1 deadline, according to WACH’s report on the announcement. The department said proposals went through a multilevel merit review governed by federal rules and funding limits. The awards are one-time investments rather than a permanent operating entitlement.

The largest initiative, Shoring Up to Sustainability, includes facility improvements and workforce support. Connections to Care funds electronic health records, remote monitoring, telehealth and other digital infrastructure. Wellness Within Reach supports mobile health units, community care locations and crisis-response teams, while Leveling Up expands established programs in chronic disease management, pediatrics and workforce development. The state grant portal describes a fifth initiative, the Tech Catalyst Fund, as a separate path for health-technology startups and community innovations.

Among the published awards are $8.25 million for Self Regional Healthcare to modernize health IT, $6.84 million for the Department of Corrections for a similar project and $5.57 million for Acadia Healthcare. The list also includes 18 mobile-crisis awards for community mental-health centers and dozens of smaller facility grants distributed among rural hospitals, physician practices, pharmacies and clinics.

The funding comes from South Carolina’s $200,030,252 federal fiscal 2026 allocation. When that allocation was announced, SCDHHS said it would emphasize one-time projects designed to remove systemic barriers and build durable capacity. The $167.3 million grant announcement does not, by itself, account for every dollar in the federal allocation, and the published materials should not be read as proof that the balance is uncommitted.

Nationally, the Rural Health Transformation Program provides $50 billion over five fiscal years, with half divided equally among approved states and half allocated using factors such as rural population and the condition of rural facilities. Federal rules require states to use the money for at least three authorized purposes, including prevention, workforce, technology, behavioral health and sustainable access.

The practical next step is implementation and oversight. Award recipients must turn one-time capital and program grants into services that can be sustained after the federal money is spent. The public award list establishes who received funding and how much; measuring whether those investments improve access, staffing, security and health outcomes will require subsequent state and federal performance reporting.