Healthcare Quality Center of Economic Excellence

Inception:
2007

University collaborators:

University of South Carolina (fiscal agent)

Clemson University (collaborative partner)

Medical University of South Carolina (collaborative partner)

About the CoEE:

This CoEE is working to improve the safety, effectiveness, and affordability of healthcare in South Carolina through applied medical research and state-of-the-art information technology. An objective for the CoEE’s research is to make healthcare research and delivery in South Carolina more efficient.

One example of this is creating interoperable electronic health records, which would give health providers the ability to retrieve a patient’s medical record from anywhere in the state. This could be especially useful for Emergency Medical Technicians, who could access the medical records of critically ill patients as they are being transported to a hospital, or for people who become sick or injured while traveling. Another example of increasing the efficiency of healthcare is creating a statewide data portal for sharing clinical trial research information among the various healthcare systems.

In February 2009, the S.C. Healthcare Quality Trust was launched as a
partnership between this CoEE, Health Sciences South Carolina, the S.C. Hospital
Association, and Premier, Inc. The goal of this partnership is to reduce healthcare associated infections. According to data provided by Premier, Inc., a reduction of
infections could save state hospitals up to $40 million a year and reduce patient stays by up to 24,000 days. As causes are determined and preventative measures tested, results will be shared with all 65 acute‐care hospitals in South Carolina.

This CoEE is creating an electronic health portal and a clinical research organization,
and has a partnership agreement with IBM and Siemens to assist with the formation
of a statewide information technology infrastructure which will include a clinical data
warehouse and clinical trials management systems. The CoEE has partnered with
Collexis Holdings to form a database of biomedical research, the first such in the U.S.

Funding level:
$5 million

CoEE Endowed Chairs: