image: The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is the nation’s leading funder of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). By comparing two or more health or health care approaches, CER generates evidence that helps people make better-informed decisions and improves health care delivery and outcomes. PCORI takes a holistic approach to its work, ensuring that patients and other health decision makers are engaged as partners throughout the research process, supporting dissemination and implementation of results in practice and strengthening clinical research infrastructure to advance patient-centered CER. PCORI is an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress. Visit pcori.org.
Credit: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today began inviting proposals for new studies and projects through 10 funding opportunities. Five of these PCORI Funding Announcements (PFAs) are for patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER), including three offering up to $300 million for studies aimed at improving maternal health, sleep health and care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Additional areas and conditions emphasized in the latest CER funding opportunities are Long COVID and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“We are pleased to offer these first funding opportunities of 2024, continuing PCORI’s vital work as the nation’s leading funder of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research,” said PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., MPH. “The research PCORI will fund through these opportunities will help fill evidence gaps related to an array of high-burden health conditions, providing patients, clinicians and other health care decision makers valuable information to make better-informed decisions and improve health and health care for people across the nation.”
Three of the latest CER PFAs focus on PCORI Topic Themes, which are intersectional research areas addressing health issues impacting millions of people. PCORI identified its Topic Themes with extensive stakeholder input to advance its National Priorities for Health, a comprehensive set of mutually reinforcing goals confronting health and health care challenges facing the nation. These PFAs, each offering up to $100 million, concentrate on:
- Improving outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, with an emphasis on improving health and quality of life for people with Down syndrome, as well as promoting sleep health and improving care delivery for people with IDD.
- Preventing maternal morbidity and mortality, with an emphasis on populations experiencing disparities in maternal outcomes and those with higher risk for health problems during pregnancy or postpartum, as well as studies examining variations in health care practice.
- Promoting sleep health with an emphasis on high-need or underserved populations such as shift workers or individuals with multiple chronic conditions.
Additional funding opportunities include the Phased Large Awards for Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research (PLACER) PFA and the Broad Pragmatic Studies (BPS) PFA. Through these PFAs, research teams may submit applications on any patient-centered CER topic that aligns with PCORI’s National Priorities for Health.
PCORI offers up to $200 million through the PLACER PFA, which seeks proposals for ambitious, large-scale two-phased trials addressing critical decisional dilemmas that require new evidence about the comparative effectiveness of available interventions. PCORI offers up to $160 million through the BPS PFA, and encourages submissions for studies on Long COVID, post-traumatic stress disorder and social determinants of health. A submission category for the BPS PFA also invites studies using PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, to support more efficient, large-scale studies.
Additional PFAs focus on evidence uptake, the science of engagement and research methods
PCORI also supports initiatives to accelerate the adoption of useful CER evidence into clinical practice to improve health and health care outcomes. Three PFAs seek proposals for projects to implement results of PCORI-funded research studies and advance approaches to shared decision making in practice settings. PCORI offers up to $23.5 million through these three PFAs.
Another PFA, offering up to $36 million, seeks proposals for studies focused on strengthening and enhancing the science of engagement in health research. This groundbreaking initiative supports building the evidence base about strategic approaches to promoting robust and meaningful engagement of stakeholders throughout the research process.
An additional PFA seeks proposals for methods development studies to enhance the methodologic rigor across the patient-centered CER field. PCORI offers up to $12 million through this PFA.
“PCORI’s latest funding opportunities build on the organization’s success in funding rigorous patient-centered CER that addresses health care challenges confronting patients and their families every day,” said Harv Feldman, M.D., MSCE, PCORI’s Deputy Executive Director for Patient-Centered Research Programs. “These diverse funding opportunities also will help ensure that important findings are made readily accessible and implementable in clinical practice, which are essential steps toward fulfilling PCORI’s mission to improve health, health care decision making and patient outcomes.”
Awarded funding totals within and across PCORI PFAs are subject to the quantity and quality of applications received. To date, PCORI has invested more than $4.5 billion to fund patient-centered CER and other research-related projects. Details about the most recent funding announcements are on PCORI’s website.
About PCORI
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is the nation’s leading funder of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). By comparing two or more health or health care approaches, CER generates evidence that helps people make better-informed decisions and improves health care delivery and outcomes. PCORI takes a holistic approach to its work, ensuring that patients and other health decision makers are engaged as partners throughout the research process, supporting dissemination and implementation of results in practice and strengthening clinical research infrastructure to advance patient-centered CER. PCORI is an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress. Visit pcori.org.