The 2024 South Carolina Community Health Worker Prioritization Index
The SC CHW Index
The 2024 South Carolina Community Health Worker Prioritization Index (SC CHW Index) was created through a collaboration between the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and the Center for Community Health Alignment at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. The SC CHW Index (2024) indicates priority level for community health workers (CHWs) in South Carolina on both the zip code and county levels. Ranked from 0-1, the higher the SC CHW Index score, the greater the priority level for a CHW in that location.
In some communities, there are incredible income and health disparities. This means that data may seem incongruent with some aspects or neighborhoods of communities that appear to be high-income, but also are home to low-income community members
The index scores have been calculated by examining recent health data trends as reported by the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office (RFA), the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s (SC DHEC) South Carolina Community Assessment Network (SCAN), and the United States Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Much of this information is publicly available online.
Data Sources
The uninsured rate, income per capita, the poverty rate, and the percentage of female residents 15-49 come from the 2021 ACS.
The diabetes rates, diabetes visits, hypertension rate, hypertension visits, emergency department (ED) visits, ED rates, provider count, provider rate, count of dentists, dentists rate, licensed professional counselor count, and licensed professional counselor rate come from medical claims records reported by RFA.
The Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and Rural Health Center (RHC) counts come from HRSA.
The count of births, percentage of low birth weight (LBW) births, number of LBW births, the number of infant deaths, and infant mortality rate, come from the SC DHEC SCAN.
Notes About the Data
The diabetes rate is the number of diagnosed individuals living with diabetes per 1,000 residents. The hypertension rate is the number of diagnosed individuals living with hypertension per 1,000 residents. While the diabetes and hypertension rates take into account where these individuals live, the visits count reports where they receive care.
The ED rate is the number of visits to the ED per 1,000 residents. The ED rate is shown as it compares to the state median ED rate (1, 357 visits per 1,000 residents). Positive numbers indicate that the location’s ED rate is above the state median while negative numbers indicate that it is below.
The provider rate is the number of providers per 1,000 residents. The dentist rate is the number of dentists per 1,000 residents. The licensed professional counselors rate is the number of licensed professional counselors per 1,000 residents. These rates are important when thinking about CHWs as they are related to access to care, so in areas where there are fewer providers, CHWs can be helpful in helping people find and connect to providers. They are also able to help with community members with transportation and, potentially, telehealth.
If you have questions about this data, are having trouble navigating the maps, or would like to learn more, please contact Rich Strater at rstrater@email.sc.edu.