PCORI Announces $68M To Fund Two National Research Networks
On Tuesday, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute announced it will spend $68 million to fund two national research networks that will include as many as 12 million patients, the Washington Post's "Wonkblog" reports.
PCORI is a not-for-profit organization created under the Affordable Care Act to fund comparative-effectiveness research (Kliff, "Wonkblog," Washington Post, 4/23).
PCORI said the project aims to use the network to implement clinical trials and to have the capacity to conduct comparative-effectiveness studies using standardized patient data gathered through physician visits (Robeznieks, Modern Healthcare, 4/23).
Specifically, PCORI plans to award:
- $56 million to up to eight existing or new "Clinical Data Research Networks"; and
- $12 million to as many as to 18 "Patient-Powered Research Networks" (Sullivan, Government Health IT, 4/23).
PCORI said that each of the networks will focus on three patient groups to study, such as:
- Patients with a common disorder;
- Those facing a rare medical challenge; and
- Individuals who are obese or have diabetes.
PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby said, "Across the country, there is a lot of variation in how diseases get treated." He added that the networks are a "golden opportunity" to study patient treatments and determine which lead to better outcomes.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari said, "Right now, we're spending trillions on health care and 99.9999% doesn't contribute anything to medical knowledge." He added, "That's the real vision, that we actually take routine care, the health care happening in the real world, and have that contribute to knowledge" ("Wonkblog," Washington Post, 4/23).
Potential applicants have until June 19 to turn in a letter of intent and must submit an application by Sept. 27. Individual applicants in the CDRNs can receive awards of up to $7 million, while those entering the PPRN could receive as much as $1 million. PCORI will announce the awards in December (Modern Healthcare, 4/23).
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