The AAMC joined 170 organizations representing patients, clinicians, hospitals, research organizations, and academic institutions on two May 13 letters urging House and Senate committee leaders to reauthorize the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and its current funding mechanism for at least 10 years.
The letters, organized by the Friends of PCORI Reauthorization, emphasize PCORI’s role in creating and promoting the uptake of evidence-based information to improve health outcomes. The signatories note, “Reaffirming the commitment to PCORI for another 10 years will allow the institute to build on its success in changing the culture of research to be more patient-centered, and to enhance its work in partnership with other agencies and stakeholders to support a sustainable infrastructure for disseminating and implementing research outcomes meaningfully into practice.”
Addressed to the chairs and ranking members of the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees and the Senate Finance Committee, the letters also request that the Committee leaders “ensure PCORI stays true to its mission of patient-centered research by maintaining its mandate to conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research.”
Originally established in 2010, PCORI and the trust fund that supports the institute’s work are scheduled to expire at the end of FY 2019 unless Congress approves a reauthorization.