PCORI awards $93.5M to promote patient-centered research

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has awarded $93.5 million to support 29 clinical research data networks to form a new resource known as PCORnet—the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

The institute “envisions PCORnet to be a secure, national data network that improves the speed, efficiency, and use of patient-centered comparative effectiveness research,” according to its announcement. PCORnet will integrate data from the 29 individual networks, including diverse, nationally representative health information that can support a range of study designs.

“It will reduce the time and effort needed to launch new studies and focus research on questions and outcomes especially useful to patients and those who care for them,” the announcement explained.

The awards support the development of major components of PCORnet over the next 18 months. PCORI will fund 11 Clinical Data Research Networks--partnerships among health clinics, hospitals and other health systems with the ability to collect and use information from multiple data sources such as EHRs. The institute also will fund 18 patient-powered research networks formed by patients and their partners to promote information exchange on a particular condition.

"We intend PCORnet to be a national resource—a collaborative, interoperable, and secure ‘network of networks’—that serves both the scientific and patient communities. The essential difference between PCORnet and previous research networks is the critical involvement of healthcare systems, clinicians and patients in governing and using the network resources,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH, in the announcement.

For more information on the awards, go here.