PCORI awards funding for new patient-centered healthcare research

New CER studies address a broad range of adult and pediatric health needs

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Every day, Americans face health care decisions without the information needed to fully understand the potential benefits and risks of different treatment options. To help close these evidence gaps and empower individuals and their caregivers with the information needed to make more informed health care decisions, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) announced funding awards for new patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies addressing a range of adult and pediatric health concerns.

"Patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research helps address important questions about different health care options in real-world settings," said PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., MPH. "These newly funded studies will generate evidence to help people across the nation better understand their health and health care options, make more informed health care decisions and improve their health outcomes."

Funding highlights

• Eleven new patient-centered CER studies addressing a range of pediatric and adult health challenges
• Eight studies advancing CER methods, including strategies for meaningful patient and stakeholder engagement
• One project supporting the implementation of PCORI-funded CER findings into real-world clinical settings

Addressing real-world health challenges

Several of the newly awarded patient-centered CER studies will focus on mental and behavioral health:

• Two studies will compare approaches to prevent suicide — a leading cause of death among youth and adults.
• One study will compare telehealth approaches to reduce strain for caregivers of people with dementia.
• Another will compare medication strategies for managing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents.

Two additional CER studies will focus on kidney-related care:

• One will compare outcomes for people receiving daily in-home dialysis versus dialysis schedules with days off between sessions.
• The other will compare an observational approach to surgical intervention for asymptomatic kidney stones in children and adults.

Other newly funded CER studies address cardiovascular health and care transitions:

• A large trial will compare the use of a step-tracking mobile phone app alone to the app combined with a gamification-based intervention, measuring which approach is more effective at increasing physical activity and reducing major adverse cardiovascular events among high-risk adults.
• Another trial will compare two acute care transition programs for older adults, assessing whether adding structured caregiver support reduces hospital readmissions and improves health and wellbeing for individuals and their caregivers.

Strengthening CER methods and impact

PCORI is also funding studies aimed at enhancing the rigor and relevance of CER:

• Five studies address high-priority methodological gaps in patient-centered CER.
• Three studies focus on strengthening the evidence base to effectively engage patients and other health and health care decision makers throughout the design and conduct of patient-centered CER.

Accelerating uptake of PCORI-funded research results

PCORI continues to fund initiatives that help the use of research findings in real-world clinical practice. A newly funded implementation project will expand access to an early childhood obesity prevention program in dozens of clinics across five states.

For more information about the new awards, visit PCORI.org.

All award funding has been approved pending final PCORI contractual considerations.

About PCORI 

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). CER compares two or more health care options, generating evidence about any differences in potential benefits or harms to empower patients, caregivers and other health care decision makers with information to make informed choices that reflect their needs and preferences. PCORI emphasizes the engagement of patients, caregivers and the broader health care community in all aspects of PCORI-funded research and research-related activities, including the dissemination and uptake of research findings.

SOURCE Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute