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 Center:

This Center 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 Center’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. 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 and researchers.

In February 2009, the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust was launched as a
partnership between the Center, Health Sciences South Carolina, the South Carolina Hospital Association, and Premier, Inc. The goal of the 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 preventive measures tested, the best practices for reducing infections will be shared with all 65 acute‐care hospitals in South Carolina.

The Center 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 Center has partnered with Collexis Holdings to form a database of biomedical research, the first in the United States.

In 2010, the Health Care Quality Center received federal awards in excess of $10 million.

Funding level:
$5 million

SmartState Endowed Chairs:

View a presentation given by Dr. Moskowitz at the 2010 HEAL SC conference.

View a presentation given by Dr. Sanderson at the 2010 HEAL SC conference.

USC Endowed Chair and Health Sciences
South Carolina President Dr. Jay Moskowitz.