The Research and Development team for the School of Applied Computational Sciences supports Meharry Medical College’s Clinical and Translational Research Center on data refreshes for the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet). They recently submitted and received approval confirmation for the July PCORI Refresh # r024, which included major milestone changes that will help classify patients based on visit type.
“We proudly represent Meharry on PCORnet and have successfully transformed ECW, Paragon and Practice Partners EHR systems data into the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI, Data Model,” says Fortune Mhlanga, dean of the School of Applied Computational Sciences.
PCORnet is a national resource of an integrated partnership of nine large clinical research networks (CRNs), including the Stakeholder, Technology and Research (STAR) Network, two health plan research networks, and a coordinating center. The School participates in this partnership through Meharry’s membership in the STAR Network that maintains EHR data on more than 14 million patients.
The PCORI is a nonprofit research organization that funds research that offers patients and caregivers the information they need to make important health care decisions.
“Meharry is the only HBCU participating in PCORI at the national level,” says Mhlanga. “It is a valuable relationship that helps the College’s physician scientists to collaborate with national researchers.”
The SACS Research and Development team includes Dr. Ashutosh Singhal, medical research, development and strategy director, Sravan Kopparthi, data warehouse solution specialist, and Ammar Razzaq, data analyst. The project includes a quarterly data refresh. The July refresh #r24 was the second quarter refresh after the upgrade to PCORI CDM version 6 in January.
