The Healthcare Quality Center has forged relationships with numerous organizations that share the vision of making better health possible. Chief among them is the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), which represents 100 member hospitals. Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) and SCHA, along with PHT Services, Inc., co-host the South Carolina Patient Safety Symposium in March. HSSC and SCHA also are working in collaboration to eliminate healthcare-associated infections through the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust. Additionally, the two organizations are facilitating the translation of new products and services developed by HSSC-supported CoEEs into the state’s hospitals.

The Center also has relationships with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics, with the goal of developing a statewide strategic plan for developing a health information system that will improve the state's healthcare delivery system, promote greater efficiency, reduce costs, secure better patient outcomes, and support biomedical research. The strategic plan is designed to help South Carolina secure federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, which will aid healthcare providers in securing and implementing electronic medical records systems and connect to state and national health information exchanges. The Center for Healthcare Quality is playing a pivotal leadership role in this critical effort.

Additionally, the Center for Healthcare Quality has implemented an electronic Institutional Review Board (eIRB), which enables the electronic submission and review of human subject research studies. eIRB supports collaborative, multi-site studies among HSSC members. Working with Collexis Holdings, Inc., the Center has launched the first online, statewide directory of biomedical researchers and their research in the United States. By creating these technology assets, the Center for Healthcare Quality is advancing research in South Carolina, making the state’s researchers more efficient and more competitive for national funding, and making the state more attractive to pharmaceutical and medical device companies.