Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management

Projects in the MUORP take advantage of the faculty’s skills in both primary research and the analysis of large secondary data sets. The CPMM maintains a PHI Restricted Research Server for outcomes research using Medicare, Medicaid, and other administrative claims data sets. These data sets, along with national survey data sets and prescription data sets from community pharmacies, are used by the faculty and graduate students to conduct pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance research projects.

Given the powerful link between medication use and health outcomes, the CPMM research and initiatives in this area stand to improve health benefit design and prescription drug utilization for Mississippi Medicaid beneficiaries and Medicare recipients nationwide.

Pharmacies are important small businesses in the state of Mississippi and are critical to the access and provision of healthcare nationally. Activities in the PEP include research to understand innovation in today’s pharmacy practice and the development of new healthcare services. It also includes initiatives to assist community pharmacies in adapting to today’s environment by providing advice to individuals who are struggling to remain viable.

A major project in the PEP is the dissemination of the RxSync for Pharmacies™ manual, which assists community pharmacies in adopting the RxSync Service™. This project has the potential to help community pharmacies be more competitive while increasing patient compliance, satisfaction, and health outcomes. The projects in the PEP are beneficial to small businesses, which are an essential part of providing healthcare in the state and the nation.

Activities in the PMRP include research to understand pharmaceutical companies’ practices and how they affect the utilization of medications – examples of this can be seen in direct-to-consumer advertising and strategies to affect physician prescribing. This program has researched to investigate medication use patterns in various populations, test various marketing strategies, and measure the influence various factors have on the prescribing of pharmaceuticals.

The PMRP has also conducted analyses of new drugs to evaluate their commercial viability – including compounds being developed at the National Center for Natural Products Research, the other research center within RIPS. The true potential of this program lies in developing strategies to affect appropriate marketing and prescribing of pharmaceuticals. As a result, this program area has the potential to enhance the utilization of cost-saving and appropriate medications in Mississippi and the nation.

Personal computers are the primary laboratory equipment in this field of research. As such, the CPMM works closely with the Department of Pharmacy Administration to purchase computers such that every faculty and graduate student is provided with adequate equipment to conduct research in our field.

The CPMM, through grants, contracts, and other funding sources, provides a large number of graduate research assistantships for the MS and PhD students in the Department of Pharmacy Administration. In addition to providing critical staffing for research projects, these assistantships provide experiential learning opportunities for the students and are considered to be an essential part of the overall graduate education program.

To ensure the privacy and confidentiality of data containing personal health information (PHI) that are used in our research projects, the CPMM maintains a separate computer center with controlled access within the CPMM offices. Mr. Raul Galeano is responsible for managing the PHI Computer Center and serves as data custodian for all data use agreements (DUAs) involving PHI data.

The PHI Computer Center contains a stand-alone, non-networked computer for initial processing and ID encryption of newly acquired PHI data files. The research production files produced on the stand-alone computer are then loaded on one of several restricted-access analytical servers for use by authorized research team members. The PHI Computer Center meets the highest security requirements for working with PHI data and allows research teams to acquire DUAs for PHI data from virtually any source.

The CPMM provides support of up to $3,000 for primary data collection related to thesis and dissertation projects conducted by graduate students in the Department of Pharmacy Administration. Students are required to work with their thesis/dissertation director to first attempt to acquire external funding for the project. If adequate funding cannot be obtained from external sources, a student may request support from the CPMM with the approval of the faculty chairing the student’s committee.

The CPMM recognizes that for society to realize the real value of research, results must be effectively disseminated to the most appropriate audiences. Whenever possible, CPMM provides support for the dissemination of results from research projects related to the three CPMM program areas. This support includes publication charges when journals have page charges and travel for presentations at professional and scientific meetings. The goal is to be sure faculty and graduate students who are presenting authors for podium or poster presentations will always be able to attend the meetings without having to spend their own personal funds.

A few examples of participation and presentation at conferences include The Academy of Managed Health Care Pharmacy Annual Meetings, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance Annual Meetings, the American Drug Utilization Review Society Annual Meetings, and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Annual meetings.