With input from its membership - consisting of more than 6,000 physicians, residents, and medical students - SCMA will focus its advocacy efforts in 2025 and beyond on the following critical issue areas:

Expanding Access

South Carolina can bolster efforts to extend healthcare access by: increasing reimbursement rates to better assist rural physicians; funding new mobile units and care sites; creating pipeline programs to help students in underserved areas pursue healthcare professions; continuing to emphasize telehealth; and increasing funding for the Rural Incentive Grant Program and the South Carolina Rural Practice Loan Forgiveness Program. 

Reducing Costs

South Carolina can help reduce healthcare costs by: reforming the prior authorization process, which places unnecessary hurdles between patients and life-saving care; disallowing copay accumulators, which cause out-of-pocket bills to be paid twice; and regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which drive up the cost of generic drugs. SCMA is also committed to helping more physicians become and remain independent.  

Workforce Development

SCMA supports additional investment in graduate medical education to address the shortage in physician workforce, keeping more doctors in South Carolina while increasing healthcare access in the process. 

Patient Choice

SCMA supports legislation to eliminate the use of non-compete agreements for physicians, preserving patients’ rights to always choose their provider of choice.   

Physician Health and Well-Being

SCMA supports legislation to allow physicians and other healthcare professionals to seek the mental health care and support services they need to prevent burnout without fear of reporting requirements or inappropriate access to their mental health records.