Our Accomplishments

Creating a Statewide Health Information Technology System

Opportunities

Information technology (IT) is rapidly transforming medical research and health care around the world. In South Carolina, Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) and its partners are leading a major effort to build a comprehensive statewide IT research system, the South Carolina Integrated Platform for Research (SCIPR), which in association with other HSSC initiatives, has the potential to make the state the most interconnected in the country. This highly integrated health-focused IT infrastructure will have the power and flexibility to:

  • Accelerate research projects
  • Facilitate data collection and analysis
  • Attract clinical trials of pharmaceuticals and medical devices
  • Enable healthcare providers in urban and rural locations to share medical record electronically
  • Support a growing telemedicine enterprise
  • Improve patient care

The effort is unique in the nation. The scale of the SCIPR infrastructure will satisfy clinical, operational, and quality requirement for researchers, hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers across the state. Specific tools like the South Carolina Light Rail provide high-speed connectivity between the state’s research universities and major hospitals and will enable South Carolina to connect with national networks for data collection and sharing. HSSC’s governance structure is managing issues such as data ownership, privacy, security, and consent agreements.

The completion of SCIPR along with South Carolina’s statewide clinical IT systems will put the state at the forefront of the national movement to transform health care and the healthcare delivery system through intelligent health information automation.

Snapshot

Accomplishment Data

Initiative: Theme:
  • Advancement
Focus:
  • Clinicians
    Health Care Systems
    Research Organizations
    Researchers