Pharmaceutical Research Computing (PRC) is a center within the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research (PHSR) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. PRC’s mission is to provide computer programming, data management and analytic support for health services researchers.
Since its establishment in 1998, PRC has had extensive experience working with:
- Large administrative claims data (e.g. BlueCross BlueShield, i3 Innovus, MAX, Medicare, Medicaid, Marketscan, PharMetrics)
- Secondary data (e.g. MCBS, SEER-Medicare, National VHA, USRDS)
- Primary data including pharmacy and medical information (e.g. service evaluations) and surveys
In addition, PRC has developed research databases and a Web-based system where authorized users can run queries and access results by file transfer protocol.
Project sponsors have included:
- National Institutes of Health
- Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality
- Food & Drug Administration
- Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
- Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Commonwealth Fund
- Pfizer
- Sanofi-Aventis
- Amgen
Linda Simoni-Wastila, PhD, and Julie Zito, PhD, two PRC clients, with Ilene Zuckerman, PharmD, PhD, PRC Executive Director in the center's server room.