PCORI awards funding for new patient-centered healthcare research to inform healthcare decisions

Additional funding supports projects that put practice-changing research findings into use.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today announced funding for new patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) and related projects to inform clinical practice. Together, these projects will generate evidence and support its use in care to help patients and those who care for them make better-informed healthcare decisions.

The projects span emergency, hospital and outpatient care and address a range of health concerns including cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental and behavioral health, women's health, pediatric care, rare diseases and chronic disease management.

Every day in the United States, people make decisions with insufficient information about which treatments or approaches may work best for them. PCORI funds CER that compares healthcare options to generate evidence that patients, caregivers, clinicians and the broader healthcare community can use to make better-informed decisions. PCORI also funds work to strengthen the methods used to conduct patient-centered CER and help useful research findings become part of everyday care.

"Patients and families need reliable information about the healthcare questions that matter most to them," said PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., MPH. "These projects will generate evidence that helps people understand their options and make informed healthcare decisions that reflect their needs and preferences. They will also help move research findings into clinical practice to improve health outcomes."

 Funding highlights

• 12 patient-centered CER studies comparing healthcare options across a range of health concerns
• 10 studies to strengthen patient-centered CER methods, including approaches for meaningful engagement
• Seven projects to support the use of PCORI-funded CER findings in everyday healthcare settings

Learn more about the newly funded awards.

New patient-centered CER awards

Among the newly funded CER studies are three addressing important healthcare questions in emergency, hospital and surgical care that affect millions of Americans.

One study will examine how ground-based emergency medical services (EMS) can best treat severe bleeding, a leading cause of preventable death following traumatic injury. Blood transfusions are not commonly available in ground-based EMS. Researchers will compare administration of blood transfusions before patients reach the hospital with the current standard treatment using crystalloid fluids such as saline to determine which approach leads to better survival and recovery.

Another study will focus on alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS), comparing two commonly used medications — benzodiazepines and phenobarbital — as well as different dosing strategies, to determine which approaches work better for patients at higher and lower risk of complications.

A third study will examine pain management before, during and immediately following orthopedic trauma surgery for extremity fractures, with and without low-dose ketamine, to determine whether ketamine reduces chronic postsurgical pain and which patients are most likely to benefit.

Other newly funded CER studies will compare treatment strategies for shock following a heart attack, treatment options for older adults with acute myeloid leukemia and nonantibiotic approaches to prevent recurrent bladder infections after menopause. Additional studies address mental and behavioral health, caregiving support, rare diseases and preventive care decision making.

Strengthening patient-centered CER

Ten additional awards will support studies aimed at strengthening how patient-centered CER is designed and conducted. Of these, four will build evidence on engagement methods and strategies for assessing and measuring meaningful engagement in research. The remaining six will address other methodological gaps in the design, conduct and analysis of patient-centered CER to further strengthen the rigor and quality of the evidence this research generates.

Applying evidence in practice

PCORI also funds projects that support the use of findings from prior PCORI-funded CER in routine clinical care. Six projects will focus on efforts to:

• Improve access to hearing care in rural schools.
• Support advance care planning for seriously ill and older adults in primary care.
• Manage weight among youth prescribed certain antipsychotic medications.
• Use telehealth approaches to improve perinatal mental healthcare.
• Improve hypertension management in primary care.
• Strengthen communication between patients, families and clinicians in pediatric hospital care.

An additional project will share the findings from a PCORI-funded CER study on home phototherapy for psoriasis with patients, clinicians, payers and others to help inform healthcare decisions.

See the full list of new research and implementation awards.

All 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 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