BRIEF HISTORY
The Center for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) is a university-based center that exists to foster and conduct research designed to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, appropriateness, and accessibility of health care services in South Carolina and beyond. Originally established in 1992 as the Center for Health Policy in the Institute of Public Service and Policy Research, the Center was envisioned as a mechanism to bring university resources and talent to bear on significant health care issues in South Carolina. In 1995, start-up funds for the Center were appropriated by the South Carolina Legislature. At the same time Richland Memorial Hospital (now the Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital) in its strategic plan developed several key programmatic areas in partnership with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. These programs, which became known as Centers of Research Excellence (COREs), included a Center for Health Services Research. In 1996 these two initiatives came together as the Center for Health Services and Policy Research, now jointly sponsored by the University of South Carolina Institute of Public Service and Policy Research, School of Medicine, School of Public Health, and Richland Memorial Hospital. In 1997, a national search was launched for a permanent Center Director.
In the fall of 1998, Dr. John Woods accepted the position as Center director and associate professor in the School of Medicine. He returned to Indiana in the Spring of 2006, and Dr. Dave Murday was named Interim Director. Today the Center consists of 8 full-time employees. Additionally, at any given time we have up to 10 part-time employees and three to four students. Now firmly established as an active research and public service entity, the Center is on a growth path with a vision to become widely known and respected as a statewide resource for health services research and policy analysis with a portfolio of externally funded projects in excess of one million dollars.
