PCORI awards funding for new patient-centered healthcare research supporting better-informed decision making

Funding also awarded for health system implementation projects advancing the uptake of CER findings 

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today announced new funding to support patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) across a range of health conditions experienced by Americans, along with projects designed to help bring practice-changing CER results into real-world care settings.

Across the United States, people make decisions about their healthcare without always having clear information about the potential benefits and risks of different treatment options. These awards are part of PCORI's growing portfolio of funded research that produces information to help patients, caregivers and the broader healthcare community choose between care options — and to support projects that help integrate evidence into everyday care.

"Understanding the tradeoffs between different approaches to care helps patients and their caregivers navigate decisions in everyday clinical settings," said PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., MPH. "These newly funded patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research projects will generate evidence to help people across the United States understand their options and make better-informed choices that reflect their needs and preferences."

Funding highlights

• Thirteen new patient-centered CER studies addressing a range of health challenges
• Four studies advancing patient-centered CER methods, including strategies for meaningful engagement of patients and those who care for them
• Fifteen projects supporting implementation of PCORI-funded CER findings into real-world clinical settings

New research awards

The newly awarded patient-centered CER projects will compare different approaches to care across a broad set of health concerns. Studies will examine:

• Initial treatment options for people with painful diabetic neuropathy.
• Effectiveness and safety of antinausea medications during pregnancy.
• Advanced care planning interventions in primary care settings.
• Strategies to promote sleep and reduce delirium in intensive care unit settings.
• Dementia caregiving support approaches.
• Tobacco cessation in community mental healthcare settings.
• Interventions for adults and children with chronic kidney disease.

Two additional awards fund CER focused on trauma in adolescents. One study will compare strategies to increase adoption of evidence-based treatment for trauma and substance use. The other will compare approaches to treating trauma alongside other mental health concerns.

Two more awards will examine approaches to improving care for autistic children and for children and adults with cerebral palsy.              

Four additional awards fund studies designed to strengthen the conduct of patient-centered CER. These include three focused on advancing CER methods and one focused on building the evidence base about effective engagement of patients and other healthcare decision makers through the design and conduct of patient-centered CER.

Accelerating uptake of PCORI-funded research results

To help ensure results generated by PCORI-funded CER are accessible and usable by health decision makers, PCORI funds implementation projects that help advance the adoption of high-priority evidence into real-world clinical settings. Through its Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII), PCORI has announced 15 new funding awards for projects focused on:

• Improving hypertension diagnosis and management.
• Electronic monitoring of patient-reported outcomes during cancer treatment.
• Expanding access to mental healthcare through telepsychiatry collaborative care.

With these new awards, HSII participant health systems now have implementation projects across 34 states and the District of Columbia. Collectively, these projects have the potential to impact care for more than two million patients across approximately 5,100 care sites. 

See the full list of new research and HSII awards on PCORI's website.

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 healthcare options, generating evidence about differences in potential benefits or harms to empower patients and those who care for them with information to make informed choices that reflect their needs and preferences. PCORI emphasizes the engagement of patients, caregivers and the broader healthcare 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