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07/11/2006 Seattle, WA — Practice Partner, a leader in the development of electronic health records (EHR) and practice management software, today announced the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and Practice Partner Research Network (PPRNet) have received a grant award from the National Cancer Institute for a colorectal cancer screening project.
MUSC will use the funds to conduct research at 30-45 practices across the United States that are affiliated with PPRNet, a unique practice-based research network that uses Practice Partner's Patient Records electronic medical record for the collection of data. The four-year grant is estimated to be a total of $1.6 million.
The primary purpose of the grant is to help address the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., colorectal cancer. The National Cancer Institute and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) are interested in promoting research to improve colorectal cancer screening delivery, utilization, and outcomes in primary care practices.
Steve Ornstein, M.D., director of PPRNet and professor of family medicine at MUSC, commented, "I am pleased we have received this grant from NCI and look forward to working with our practices to increase the knowledge base of effective colorectal screening techniques at the primary care level."
PPRNet was founded in 1995 in a joint effort between MUSC and Practice Partner and is the first practice-based research network linking physicians who use electronic medical records. Currently, PPRNet has 115 physician practices representing over 500 health care providers, and 960,000 patients located in 37 states.
PPRNet is a unique concept in the field of practice-based research. PPRNet is the first and only research network in the United States connecting practicing physicians through the use of an EMR (electronic medical record) system. Although practice-based research networks have been in existence for many years as a means of facilitating collaborative research among family physicians, PPRNet is unique in that all of its members use an EMR system (Practice Partner Patient Records) to capture their patient information.
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