PCORI Awards $88.6 Million in Funding for Comparative Effectiveness Research Projects

CHICAGO, May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has approved 51 new awards, totaling $88.6 million over three years, to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) projects under the first four areas of its National Priorities for Research and Research Agenda. This brings the total that PCORI has awarded for projects addressing these priorities to $129.3 million. PCORI also has committed another $30 million in funding for a series of pilot projects.

The projects approved Monday May 6 during a public meeting of PCORI's Board of Governors include studies of how to best care for people with kidney disease, certain cancers, obesity, asthma, diabetes, and various mental health conditions. Other projects will explore ways to support patient decision-making, reduce specific health disparities, and improve health care delivery systems.  

"PCORI and our merit reviewers believe that patients and those who care for them will greatly benefit from the comparative information these projects will provide," said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. "We're very pleased that we were able to double the amount of research awarded in our inaugural funding cycle thanks to the number of high-quality proposals we received. We look forward to working with researchers, patients, caregivers, clinicians and others within the healthcare community, to build a robust portfolio of patient-centered, comparative effectiveness research."

The awards are part of PCORI's second cycle of primary research funding, which opened for submissions in September 2012, and were selected from among more than 400 completed applications.  All were approved by the Board pending completion of a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and completion of a formal award contract.

This latest round of awards, like the initial round announced in December 2012, are based on the broad set of PCORI Funding Announcements (PFAs) released the previous May.

The approved projects were selected through a competitive review process in which scientists, patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders helped to evaluate proposals on the basis of scientific merit, how well they engage patients and other stakeholders, their methodological rigor, and how well they fit within PCORI's national research priorities.  

"The approved projects seek to answer patients' questions on a range of health conditions that affect tens of millions of Americans across diverse populations and parts of the country," said PCORI Board member Grayson Norquist, MD, MSPH, who chaired the proposal selection committee. "These projects will engage patients and stakeholders in scientifically rigorous research and provide information that patients and those who care for them can understand and use to improve their health."

The newly approved awards will go to institutions in 21 states. With this latest round of funding, PCORI has approved support for a total of 126 projects at institutions in 33 states and Washington, DC.

PCORI's funding announcements consist of three annual cycles and seek proposals for research that will provide patients and those who care for them with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health decisions.  Twenty of the latest awards address PCORI's national research priority area of Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options; 13 align with the priority area Improving Healthcare Systems; eight address Communication and Dissemination Research; and 10 align with Addressing Disparities.

Details on the approved awards, including the project name, primary investigator, research institution, and associated PCORI priority area, are provided on the PCORI website, www.pcori.org.

About PCORI
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions. PCORI is committed to continuously seeking input from a broad range of stakeholders to guide its work.

SOURCE Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute