The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (S.C. DHEC) Division of Health Facilities Construction reviews plans, specifications, and construction for health care facilities which we license in South Carolina. In addition, we conduct periodic fire and life safety surveys of existing facilities to insure continued compliance with appropriate codes, standards and regulations. The authority to do this comes from the South Carolina Legislature. Some health care facility types such as doctors offices and clinics are not licensed by S.C. DHEC and thus are not reviewed or inspected by us.
The First Step Is To Complete a Construction Project Information Form (doc).
This is a Word Document that you can fill out and e-mail to the appropriate DHFC Representative.
The Division of Health Facilities Construction:
- Review of plans and specifications for all construction of and modifications to health care facilities licensed by DHEC [Final Documentation Required For Licensure (doc). The Final Documentation Required For Licensure (pdf) is also available in Acrobat PDF Format ]. Conducts inspections of construction during and at completion of construction to insure facilities and systems meet the many applicable building codes, fire codes, and regulations.
- Provides informal guidance on methods of construction that will meet codes and regulations.
- Publishes a guidebook, Architectural and Engineering Guidelines for Design Professionals. The book is available here to aid in the design, construction, and approval process for health care facilities licensed by DHEC. The book is no longer printed for mailing. All facilities licensed by DHEC must have the plans and construction of the building or portion of the building in which the care is given, approved by DHEC’s Health Facilities Construction and Health Licensing before the building or portion of the building can be occupied and used.
To more effectively assist the construction approval process, Health Facilities Construction has divided the state into three territories with a construction professional assigned to each of the three territories. They can be contacted via our Health Facilities Construction telephone number of: (803) 545-4370. You can find a listing of their names and regions here. A location map of our offices can be found here.
DHEC does not license doctor’s offices or most outpatient Clinics. We also do not review most of these facilities, even if owned by the licensed entity. If you have a question, please call us at (803) 545-4370.
Copies of the DHEC Regulation for any of the facilities that DHEC licenses may be downloaded from the Regulation page of this website. Click here to go to the Regulation Page.
Health Facilities Construction has compiled and written Position Statements on questions that are regularly asked and/or not clear in the codes.
In a nutshell, the process of getting a facility licensed is as follows:
- Obtaining a Certificate of Need, if required
- Obtaining drawings and specifications of your facility
- Plan approval by DHEC of your plans
- Construction Progress Inspections
- Final Construction Inspection
- Documentation Required at the Final Construction Inspection
- Licensing Inspection
- Certification Inspection (if required)
To obtain more comprehensive guideline on how to get facilities licensed, click on this link to Licensing Forms and Publications and choose what you want. There are also construction inspection checklists on many types of facilities in the Guidebook described above.
All reviews performed by Health Facilities Construction are done on an appointment ONLY basis with the owner or owner’s representative(s) present. Reviews may be done in 1 or 3 stages as necessary depending on the complexity of the project. The object of the reviews is to get a set of approvable drawings properly sealed and with all required documentation.