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PRESS RELEASE PQA and University of Mississippi Establish Medication Quality Research Partnership Collaboration Expands PQA’s Analytical Capabilities and Access to Data for Measure Development Alexandria, Va. (May 14, 2019) – The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) and the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy have established a three-year research partnership to develop and evaluate measures of prescription medication quality. The University of Mississippi team will support PQA’s measure research and development work by evaluating quality measures using CMS Medicare and Medicaid administrative claims data. “The use of healthcare quality measures has grown considerably over the last decade, as we’ve seen a proliferation of initiatives to improve the quality, efficiency, and overall value of health care,” said Matthew Pickering, PharmD, PQA’s Senior Director of Research and Quality Strategies. “In partnership with the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, PQA is expanding its analytical capabilities and access to data critical for measure development. This is part of PQA’s research strategy to more effectively meet the quality measurement needs of a rapidly transforming healthcare system.” Research conducted through this partnership will provide feedback on current treatment patterns and patient characteristics to help new measures be more reflective of real-world settings. The partnership also will strengthen the testing of approved quality measures to demonstrate variance in measure rates across plans and assist with national benchmarking for measure performance. Further, the partnership will support outcomes research that evaluates the relation between quality performance measures and clinical and economic outcomes. “I am very excited about this opportunity to partner with PQA on work that is critical to the changing healthcare landscape,” said Sujith Ramachandran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Administration, University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. “Through this partnership, we will be able to leverage our resources and capabilities to continue to support PQA. We also hope this partnership solidifies the University of Mississippi's place in the growing quality landscape.” __________________ ### Contact: Richard Schmitz, PQA Senior Director of Communications, [email protected] or 703-347-7931 |