PCORI

This week, we offered a Know Your Agency e-Seminar on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and released a brief on PCORI. Below is more info on PCORI, but if your research is a fit, it's a great time to consider applying to PCORI given that they were recently reauthorized by Congress and will be going strong for the near future!

OVERVIEW

PCORI was created as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and signed into law by President Obama in 2010. The agency was recently reauthorized by Congress for an additional 10 years. PCORI is charged with providing a better understanding of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment options for patients, their caregivers, health care providers, and other stakeholders. This charge is met through 1) research, 2) an emphasis on research methodology and 3) efforts to encourage other funding agencies to incorporate patient-centered research methods. PCORI is supported through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund, combining federal and fee-based revenue for agency operation.

Specific Interests

Patient-centered is not just in this agency’s name, it drives their every action. Patients and caregivers are involved in every step of the research process and PCORI has become an expert on proper engagement tactics, all with the goal of influencing healthcare for the betterment of patients. PCORI’s National Research Priorities are:

1.       Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options

2.       Improving Healthcare Systems

3.       Communication/Dissemination Research

4.       Addressing Disparities

5.       Accelerating Patient-Centered Outcomes Research and Methodological Research

6.       Strategies for Improving Maternal Mortality*

7.       Improving Health for Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities*

*Note the last two priorities were added in the 2019 Reauthorization legislation (Executive Director’s Blog, 9/8/20).

AGENCY ORGANIZATION

PCORI is a 501(c)(1) corporation, not a federal agency. It is governed by a 21-member Board of Governors, drawn from academia, the health care industry, corporations outside of health care and non-profits, as well as the Directors of the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. PCORI’s Methodology  Committee’s role is to identify best practice patient-centered research methods and to ensure these methods are employed in all research supported by PCORI. Committee members are experts in science, medicine, epidemiology, health care technology and the health care industry. Both the Board and the Committee are appointed by the US Comptroller General. 

PCORI is unique, particularly in the way that they truly focus on and indeed center patients in the healthcare research they fund. We encourage you to check out the resources below to see if PCORI might be a good funding opportunity for you!

Resources:

PCORI Brief - ORDE

PCORI e-Seminar - ORDE

PCORI Site