Healthcare Acronyms

This is a list of agencies, acronyms (abbreviations for titles), and definitions of words used by agencies and their more easily understood terms.

It can get confusing if someone on the phone trying to help you uses agency names and titles for things that sound different than the service you want. This list to help you understand terms, so you can use the names and abbreviations they are using and you can more clearly understand their advice and instructions.

Definitions:

DHHS – Department of Health and Human Services

This is the Department of Health and Human Services. This state agency provides services for such programs as food stamps; Medicaid, children’s health insurance; foster care as well as dozens of other programs to assist SC residence in need.

For more information, visit http://www.dhhs.state.sc.us/

DHEC – Department of Health and Enviroment Control

This is the Department of Health and Environment Control. This state agency promotes and protects the health of the public and their environments. They are the agency that makes flu shots available, run the school nurse program and other health safety issues.

For more information, visit http://www.scdhec.net/

Food Stamps are now called SNAP

For over 30 years, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, has served as the foundation of America’s national nutrition safety net. SNAP works to end hunger and improve the health of low-income people by helping families buy the food they need for a nutritionally adequate diet. In South Carolina over 100,000 households depend on SNAP each month to get the food they need for good health.

For more information, http://dss.sc.gov/content/customers/food/foodstamp/index.aspx

Children’s Health Insurance Program is known as CHIP

CHIP is the Children’s Health Insurance Program or Healthy Kids Connection. When people refer to CHIP or Healthy Kids Connection, they are speaking of SC children’s health insurance for those kids who do not have insurance. Availability of this insurance depends on the family income. Look on the website for the sliding scale to see if you children qualify. These qualifications have been enlarged, so if you previously did not qualify, you may now.

For more information, visit http://www.scchoices.com/SCSelfService/en_US/kids.html