WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors today approved $85 million to fund 16 new studies comparing two or more approaches to improve care and outcomes for a range of conditions and problems that impose high burdens on patients, caregivers and the healthcare system, including unsafe opioid use, cancer, depression and stroke.
The funding total includes $5 million for a University of Washington natural experiment study comparing two approaches to reducing unsafe opioid prescribing in the workers' compensation system in two state systems, Ohio and Washington. This is the latest project in PCORI's portfolio of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness (CER) studies on substance use disorders and pain management , including 15 of which focus on opioid use .
The Board also approved funding for several other large trials that aim to provide evidence to help patients, clinicians and others choose the most effective therapies or approaches to care. Many involve pragmatic study designs intended to produce results more broadly applicable to a greater variety of patients and care situations and more quickly taken up in routine clinical practice. These awards include:
"These new awards will help answer significant questions about treatment and care delivery that are important to patients and those who care for them," said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. "They reflect the best ideas for urgently needed research on topics prioritized based on input from patients, caregivers, clinicians and other stakeholders. The results will give healthcare decision makers evidence they need to make better-informed health and healthcare decisions."
Details of all projects approved by the Board can be found on PCORI's website . The new awards were approved pending a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of formal award contracts.
With these latest awards, PCORI has invested $2.4 billion to fund more than 440 patient-centered CER studies and other projects designed to enhance CER methods and the infrastructure necessary to conduct CER rigorously and efficiently.
In other business, the Board also approved the selection of 28 new members to serve on four of PCORI's five multi-stakeholder advisory panels and reappointed five members for an additional term on the Advisory Panel on Patient Engagement. Panelists bring voices from across the healthcare community into PCORI's work in a variety of ways, including helping to refine and prioritize research questions for potential funding and offer feedback on the design of clinical trials.
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About PCORI
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better-informed healthcare decisions. PCORI is committed to continuously seeking input from a broad range of stakeholders to guide its work.