Our Accomplishments

Infections threaten the health of patients and add unnecessary cost to the healthcare system. The South Carolina Health Quality Trust is a voluntary partnership between HSSC, the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) and Premier Inc., which is employing research to identify the causes of and solutions to preventable healthcare-associated  infections.

Each year, the Center for Disease Control estimates there are 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths in America’s hospitals,a  situation that costs the nation’s healthcare system $6.2 billion each  year. I

The South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust is a voluntary, statewide, hospital and research university performance partnership led by HSSC. In February 2009, the group announced their first project: a research-based initiative to eliminate preventable healthcare-associated  infections from the state’s hospitals.

The HSSC-led effort to wipe out preventable infection in South Carolina’s hospitals is unique in the nation as it involves the collaborative research of the state’s largest universities, Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the University of South Carolina; and its largest health systems, Greenville Health System, MUSC Health, Palmetto Health, and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System. Research results will be shared with all 65 acute care hospitals in South Carolina, ultimately making health care safer for all South Carolinians.

HSSC and its partners are investing more than $1.7 million over three years in the effort. The return on investment has the potential to be significant. Based on the Premier data, eliminating preventable healthcare-associated infection could save the state’s hospitals as much as $40 million a year and reduce the length of stay of South Carolina patients by up to 24,000 days. *

“We all know someone whose life has been altered, sometimes permanently, by a preventable infection,” says HSSC President and CEO Jay Moskowitz. “Through the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust, we will use university researchers to determine the causes of specific infections. We will test solutions in our state’s four largest health systems. We will then share the best practices, products, and services that result with all South Carolina hospitals. This approach has the potential to make our state’s hospitals safer for patients, families, and employees; avoid millions in costs; and make our state a national model for healthcare quality.”

Among the Trust’s first tasks was the creation of a special information-sharing portal that allows all South Carolina hospitals to research the causes of healthcare-associated infections, and to identify and promoting existing and new process for prevention. Hospitals began using the portal in March 2009.